The Stairway Trail will link Waypoint Woods with the Charles Schmid Waterfront Trail and Waterfront Park. This new trail will improve pedestrian access from the ferry terminal to the Bainbridge Island waterfront, creating a seamless, scenic route for walkers and visitors.

Give today to help build the Stairway Trail in fall 2025.

The Welcome Plaza will feature rock-wall seating, harbor views, and interpretive signage about Bainbridge Island’s maritime industrial history. It will be a place to rest, learn, and enjoy the waterfront.

Give today to help complete the Welcome Plaza in 2026.

Waypoint Woods is a new gateway park project by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, to transform this 3.6-acre woodland adjacent to The Waypoint into a vibrant and welcoming public space.

In 2016, the Parks & Trails Foundation initiated efforts to enhance this parcel—owned by Washington State Ferries and located near the ferry terminal at Olympic Drive SE and Winslow Way—by securing a 20-year licensing agreement with the Bainbridge Island Metro Park and Recreation District.

This agreement allows for environmental restoration, landscaping, installation of public amenities like seating and stairs, and the creation of connecting nature trails that will connect key points including the ferry terminal, the Charles Schmid Waterfront Trail, Waterfront Park, and downtown Winslow.

The site, largely a native forest, is currently overrun with invasive ivy and other non-native plants. Restoration efforts will focus on removing these invasives, reviving the native understory, and establishing a trail that supports both recreation and pedestrian connectivity.

Once completed, Waypoint Woods will serve as a natural extension of the welcoming gateway experience already offered by The Waypoint and surrounding cultural landmarks, enhancing both ecological health and community access to green space.

Bainbridge Island loves its trails. Year by year, mile by mile, public trails have become one of our most popular features and most valuable community assets.

The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation is the community leader in the expansion of our public trails: From our behind-the-scenes work acquiring new trails easements, to coordinating the efforts of local agencies and advocates, the Foundation is a dynamic and effective force in planning, funding, building and maintaining trails island-wide. We are the nexus from which island trails multiply, grow and thrive.

49 miles of trails, and growing – We’re closing in on 50 miles of public trails on Bainbridge Island! We’ve added 10 miles of trails over the past few years – Blakely Hills, Hawley Cove, Gazzam Lake, Old Mill, Sakai Park, the Farmland Trails and more – working in partnership with the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Trails District, the City of Bainbridge Island, private landowners and generous donors.

Every new trail is an essential part of this growing network, whether a recreational trail serving park goers, a short connector between neighborhoods, or a strategic corridor to schools or commercial centers.

Backed by volunteer commitment – Our 12-member Trails Committee contributes thousands of volunteer hours each year in trails research, appraisals and legal work. We engage private landowners, HOAs, churches, schools and organizations on potential trail routes.

Providing funds to build and maintain – Our work doesn’t stop at trail acquisition. We directly fund trail permitting and construction. We also provide critical funding to Bainbridge Metro Parks for trail-building equipment, and maintenance programs like the Summer Trails Crew.

Planning trails islandwide (and beyond) – Our impact extends regionwide. We lead the Puget Sound to Pacific Collaborative (PS2P), and recently secured a $16M grant for major trail planning from Winslow to the Pacific Ocean. $1.7 million comes to Bainbridge Island to design the Sound to Olympics Trail, from Sakai Park north to the Agate Pass Bridge.

Help build trails with gift today – The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation is pleased to share with you our next four trail projects. Find out how you can help build these trails (and many more) with a gift today – contact Mary Meier, mary@biparksfoundation.org or 206.842.4971