Hiking Maury Island's Natural Area on a perfect NW day

The Maury Island Marine Park is a 320-acre public park on the southeast side of the island, or peninsula, however you'd like to define it. Technically, it's a tide island, as local landowners built a land bridge to connect Maury Island to Vashon Island in 1913. Nowadays, the isthmus, another new word, is called Portage Landing, and it's paved with a road. You never even know you're moving from island to island. It's just a single combined landmass called Vashon-Maury Island. Anyhow, you need to hop the ferry to get there. Morial and Marine Park is about 18 minutes by car from the Tahlequah ferry terminal on Vashon. There are multiple entry points on the trail systems around the Marine Park. Yeah, I'll loop around. There really isn't one loop trail. Combine them all and you can find yourself hiking just under three miles total. I ran down to the beach first. It's a great Puget Sound beach with plenty of flat stones for skipping and a driftwood fort someone had built. There's a campground just above the beach. It's open during the warmer months with bluffside views of the Sound and beach below. Hike up the hill. You'll find a gorgeous meadow with wild mushrooms and rare Pacific Madrone trees. Keep going up sandy switchback trails with incredible sound views. Apparently, Mount Rainier, or Tahoma, its views are great here, but the mountain wasn't out for me that day. You'll find mainly locals on these trails, mountain biking and walking their dogs. Horses also seem to frequent the area, based on trail findings. Afterward, head into downtown Vashon and treat yourself to pizza and ice cream. Or hit a local farm stand with fresh yogurt, butter, and mango lassi.