Befitting a park with trailheads on three sides, everyone seemed to come to 8 Acre Woods from a different direction, metaphorically speaking.
Andrew Schmid grew up on nearby Manitou Park Boulevard and knew the Skiff Point parcel as all woods and no trails, too dense and impenetrable even for rowdy kids on BMX bikes.
Those more recently familiar with the land knew it precisely for trails, built with intention over the years by the property owner who invited all to walk and share the land.
Then there’s Jim Kondek. He’s lived on neighboring Falk Road for almost 40 years and reckons he’s walked every mile of Bainbridge Island trails, but had somehow never crossed the green threshold into what would become known as 8 Acre Woods.
“I knew it was here and was a good-sized parcel, but I had no idea there was informal trail access going on,” Kondek said. “This is a real nice addition.”
However they found their way there, islanders gave a warm December welcome to 8 Acre Woods, Bainbridge Island’s newest neighborhood park. Visitors hailed from around the Skiff Point neighborhood, former neighbors returning and curious trail fans from farther afield.
Not least among them, Bainbridge Metro Parks officials who hailed the gift in an area underserved by neighborhood parks – the closest being Ted Olson Nature Preserve a country mile to the west, and the waterfront sliver of Manitou Beach Park far down the hill.
“It’s not every day a park falls into our lap,” said Lydia Roush, Park Services Division Director. “It would have been really easy to sell this to a developer, and instead the donor saw the advantage to making it a community park in perpetuity. We’re forever grateful.”
The property was gifted through the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation by the conservation-minded property owner, a longtime supporter of local parks.
As a passive park, only minor enhancements are planned. The Park District will spend some time getting to know the property before improving trails and beginning to root out the invasive ivy that drapes much of the woods.
After brief remarks from Parks & Trails Foundation and Park District officials, guests trod off into the woods and spun off in as many directions as they’d come.
David Thorne, whose Island Striders group sees several score walkers treading local byways thrice weekly, said the Striders may well add the 8 Acre Woods trails to its regular Skiff Point route.
“I’d never been in here until very recently, to realize these trails are already well established,” he said.
Anyone interested in learning more about 8 Acre Woods can sign up here for stewardship events and naturalist hikes sponsored by the Parks & Trails Foundation.
“The neighborhood is already so taken with this property, and it’s wonderful to see it so warmly embraced as a park,” said Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director, “a very nice gift in this season.”
Find the park: 8 Acre Woods is in the Skiff Point neighborhood at the intersection of Manitou Beach Drive and Mountain View Road. There is no formal parking, just a brief roadside pullout on the Mountain View Road near the trailhead. A second designated trailhead for access by foot (no parking) is on Ocean Drive. An entrance on Manitou Park Drive is unsigned. Horses and bicycles are prohibited throughout the park.
