I got hacked off with work, so I decided to ride my bike. My natural inclination was to pound out repeats on Baker Hill. Instead I went exploring and found another park on the north end of the island along Madison Bay.
The park entrance is on the north side of Madison Bay Road off Route 305, about a mile from the Agate Bridge. The road meanders through forest and past farms before ending at a driveway. There were no cars in the small lot at the park entrance.
I walked about 200 yards from the entrance, along a freshly groomed trail through a forest of Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, Sword Ferns, Red Elderberry, Oregon Grape. The trail eventually split in two directions, presumably making a loop that wound past Madison Bay.
The mushroom like growth on the stump at the left is called Conch. It’s a fungus that grew inside the tree, eventually killing it. Second growth Western Hemlock erupts from an old growth Red Cedar nurse stump shown at the right. These cedars flourished on Bainbridge Island before it was logged in the mid 1800’s. Madison Bay was one of the first logging settlements.
