Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

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59
Eagle Island Marine State Park
59

Eagle Island Marine State Park

Puget Sound, southeast of Longbranch, Washington
visited 31 July 2021
Back to parks list

Eagle Island is a small water-access only park in the south Puget Sound, located between Anderson and McNeil Islands. (You may remember that McNeil Island was, until a decade or so ago, a federal and then state penitentiary.)

Surprisingly it is not named for our national bird, but rather for one Harry Eagle, a member of an expeditionary group who visited the area in the 1840s.

I put in from a public road-end a bit south of Longbranch, which made for a fairly easy 2½ mile paddle each way to the island.

A calm stretch of Puget Sound south of Longbranch, Washington, with glassy water reflecting a soft, overcast sky. Low forested shorelines and a small tree-covered island line the distant horizon, with a few houses visible along the tree line to the right.
A densely forested shoreline of tall evergreen conifers rising from a narrow gravel beach, seen across calm dark water under a pale, cloud-filled sky at Eagle Island Marine State Park in Washington.
A calm inlet at Eagle Island Marine State Park, with tall evergreen trees lining a gravel shoreline on the right and a forested shore dotted with houses in the distance, all beneath a broad, overcast sky reflected in the rippled water.
A densely forested, rocky shoreline at Eagle Island Marine State Park seen from the water, with tall evergreen conifers rising above a gravel beach under an overcast grey sky. A low wooded shoreline recedes into the distance on the left across calm, rippled water.

The best experience of the island is to arrive at a lower tide and walk around its shore …

A gravelly pebble beach curves along calm water under an overcast gray sky at Eagle Island Marine State Park, with a large evergreen tree overhanging bleached driftwood on the right and a small white boat passing in front of a forested shoreline in the distance.
A fallen tree trunk lies curved across a sandy beach scattered with smooth pebbles, its weathered wood bleached and splitting at the broken end, while the far end still bears dark bark and connects to an eroded bank topped with green shrubs.
Bare, silhouetted tree branches reach across an overcast, pale lavender-gray sky above a calm stretch of Puget Sound water, with an evergreen-forested shoreline dotted with waterfront homes in the distance.
A dark gray rock encrusted with white barnacles and small shells rests on a beach of mixed pebbles, sand, and crushed shell fragments at Eagle Island Marine State Park. A smaller black stone sits beside it.
A pair of weathered tree trunks leans down onto a gravel and sand beach at low tide, their lower portions encrusted with barnacles. Behind them is an eroded dirt bank topped with green shrubs and dry brush.
Trees at the edge of an eroding coastal bluff with their gnarled roots exposed where the sandy bank has washed away, overlooking a gravel beach at Eagle Island Marine State Park. Dense green shrubs and evergreen forest fill the background, with a wooden bench and a small sign just visible above the embankment.

… or enjoy the sound of waves crashing onto shore.

Once on the island, you’ll find a picnic table …

A weathered wooden picnic table with galvanized metal legs sits on a bare dirt clearing surrounded by tall evergreen trees, green shrubs, and a view of calm water through the trunks at Eagle Island Marine State Park.

… and some occasionally-trimmed areas that might charitably be described as a “trail.”

A narrow dirt footpath winds through a dense, lush forest, bordered by thick green shrubs, ferns, and low-growing plants, with tall conifers and cedar branches overhead. Fallen leaves scatter the trail and a few small white and purple wildflowers dot the undergrowth.
A leaning conifer trunk and its moss-draped branches frame a calm, gray stretch of Puget Sound water seen from a gravel beach, with a forested shoreline and overcast sky in the distance.
A small wooden sign reading “Toilet” nailed to a tall conifer trunk in a dense evergreen forest, with a narrow dirt footpath winding through lush green undergrowth and ferns.

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