The Winslow ferry zone is the last place you might go looking for it, but Karl Petersen sure finds it in nearby Waypoint Woods: peace and quiet. 

Maybe it’s the depth of the shadows, the twisting path that always keeps you a little off kilter, that keep the tiny woods off Olympic Drive a place apart even as the great and busy world thrums past. 

“The path is crooked, and you never see very far ahead. Unless the sun is out and bright, which it normally is not, you don’t know which direction you’re going,” said Petersen, a neighbor who’s been tramping Waypoint Woods for a decade and still finds it fresh for discovery. “You keep making turn after turn after turn, and a lot of the turns are pretty dramatic. You never know where you are in that place. I find that enchanting.” 

The 3-acre property – bounded by Olympic and Harborview drives to the north and east, the Winslow Waterfront Trail and ravine to the south and west – may appear little more than a roadside buffer. Thousands walk past it daily to and from the ferry terminal, and maybe a few venture in. Most probably don’t even think of it as a “place,” even though it’s said to hold Winslow’s tallest tree.

A place, it will soon be. The Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation and Seattle land-use firm AHBL are leading a planning effort to put Waypoint Woods on the map. A Community Conversation event on March 6 will unveil park concepts and designs, followed by walking tours of the woods. 

The Parks Foundation is also forming a citizen Waypoint Woods Advisory Committee, and plans to submit permits and start fundraising later this year. 

“We have a wonderful opportunity to create a new park here that welcomes visitors and serves neighbors from around Winslow,” said Barb Trafton, Parks Foundation Projects Director. “There really is a sense of calm here, a serenity that we can preserve even as we make the woods more inviting and rich.” 

Whither Waypoint Woods?

As a name, “Waypoint Woods” is a natural extension of the adjacent, City-owned Waypoint plaza at Winslow Way/305. The properties adjoin but are separate. Washington State Ferries owns the woods, and the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District holds a use agreement to manage it for public enjoyment.

Planning began several years ago with concept drawings by Jones & Jones Architects and informational signs for passersby. The project eased back into motion last summer as AHBL signed on to complete planning and assist the Parks Foundation with public process and permitting. 

Perspective drawings by islander Craig Skipton, an AHBL principal, and Maria De Jesus Arevalo-Martinez, a University of Washington landscape architecture student intern, suggest a park that is much more accessible and, indeed, clearly defined.  

At the present east entrance off Harborview Drive, features could include a small plaza with rockery, benches, landscaping and interpretive signage. A blight of chain link fence would be removed, and part of the slope regraded to blend more harmoniously with the Waterfront Trail. 

The west end, near the Waterfront Park footbridge, could see an improved plaza and stairway up into the woods. 

The looping trails through the trees would be brought up to standard, and selective limbing of low-hanging firs could open up views across the ferry yard to the harbor. 

An emergent icon for Waypoint Woods: the ship’s anchor. Two enormous anchors now rest at either end, artifacts of the old Eagle Harbor shipyard and evocative of the island’s maritime past. 

The anchors feature prominently in the concept plans. 

“Young children love those anchors, both of them,” Petersen said, “and you see the same thing every time. They probably don’t know what they are, but they’re enchanted by them. They try to lift them, they climb on them everywhere they can climb. It’s something new and interesting to them, and it’s kind of an interesting asset.” 

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NEW DATE: Explore Waypoint Woods and share your ideas for Winslow’s next gateway park at a Community Conversation and walking tour, 2-4 p.m. Sunday, March 20. 

The event begins with a presentation at the Bainbridge Island Rowing Stan Pocock Legacy Boathouse, 301 Shannon Drive in Waterfront Park. A walking tour of nearby Waypoint Woods follows.  

Sign up for the Community Conversation event and receive Waypoint Woods project updates here. 

Information: www.biparksfoundation.org/waypoint  

Karl Peterson at one of Waypoint Woods iconic elements, a ship’s anchor