Low tide beach walk at Lisabuela Beach on Vashon Island

On Saturday June 8, we have a -1.5ft low tide at about 3:30pm. Also on that day, there will be a shuttle bus running from the Vashon ferry dock to Misty Isle Farms, in the center of Vashon Island, for the Vashon Sheepdog Classic. It's ok for folks not attending the sheepdog trials to use the shuttle, so let's use this opportunity to visit Lisabuela Park and the adjacent beach on the west coast of Vashon Island, which is usually out of transit range.

Note! You'll need $5 cash for the shuttle, and will need $5.55 for the ferry (Orcacard e-purse is best, but cash or credit card will work). Bring lunch to eat at the beach and plenty of water. Total hike length is about 6 miles (about 2 miles to / from beach, plus however far we go along the beach). Shoes will be better than sandals -- there will be rocks, barnacles,.. Trekking poles may be useful for slippery areas. Use Meetup comments to check in if you're not meeting us in Seattle.

We'll start from downtown Seattle. Meet at 10am at the north end of Westlake Park (on Pine St just east of 4th Ave). At 10:10am, we'll walk to the bus stop at 3rd Ave & Pike St, to catch the southbound C Line at 10:19am. This will get us to the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal at about 10:55am.

Folks who want to meet us at the Fauntleroy ferry dock should arrive before 11am.

We'll catch the 11:10am ferry to Vashon. The crossing time is 20 minutes, which will get us to the Vashon ferry dock at 11:30am.

From the Vashon ferry dock, we'll take the shuttle to Misty Isle Farms, which will drop us off at about the 22600 block of Old Mill Rd SW. (We may have a little wait at the ferry dock depending on the shuttle timing. The shuttle runs continuously according to the Vashon Sheepdog Classic information.)

Please post in the comments if you're not meeting us in Seattle, so we know to look for you. We can also use the comments to guide you to where the group is.

From Misty Isle Farms, we'll walk to Lisabuela Park, and should arrive at the beach at about 1-1:30pm.

At the beach, we'll stop for lunch. After that, we can explore the beach. Since the low tide is at about 3:30pm, we'll be on the beach as the tide is going out. (While we're there, we can have a look at the beach north of Lisabuela. This is reported to be passable all the way to Fern Cove, but a lower tide would be better for that. We'll try to get an idea of whether this would be doable for a future hike, e.g. if a better low tide happens to coincide with next year's Vashon Sheepdog Classic. The beach to the south of Lisabuela is impassable -- there's quicksand.)

We'll leave the beach by 4pm and head back to the Misty Isle Farms shuttle stop. The walk from Lisabuela beach is 40 min, or from 146th Ave SW, 50 min. The last shuttle will be at about 5pm. (If we miss it, we'll have an extra couple of miles over to Vashon Hwy.)

Note the beach may be muddy and rocky and slippery, plus we'll be walking on streets to and from the beach. It's better to wear shoes than sandals. No flip-flops, please! If you have trekking poles, they could be useful to avoid slipping on loose rocks or seaweed on the beach.

Bring lunch to eat on the beach. Bring water -- there are porta-potties on the beach but no potable water.

Cost for the shuttle is $5 -- bring cash. The ferry is $5.55 round trip ($2.75 for seniors). You can load funds on your Orcacard, and pay by tapping, which is faster.

On the return trip, the shuttle makes a stop near downtown Vashon. Since it will be about dinner time, some folks may want to stop there to get dinner, then catch the last #118 to the ferry dock. It leaves Vashon Hwy SW and SW Bank Rd at 6:46pm (be there early: there are late ferry runs, but it's a long walk from Vashon town center). Folks who take the shuttle straight to the ferry dock will catch the 5:50pm ferry. Folks taking the last #118 will return on the 7:10pm ferry.

Many thanks to Ginny for proposing and researching this hike! Any mistakes in the writeup are mine. -- Pat