The Upland Trail begins at the Breazeale-Padilla Bay Interpretive Center. Make sure to stop by the front desk to get interpretive and botanical guides. The center is open Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The interpretive guide explains what one is looking at along the well-groomed path. Numbered stakes along the way coincide with numbers in the guide. Match them up and away you go.

The botanical guide provides an opportunity to learn about the trees and plants on the reserve.

Make sure to return both guides on completion of the hike.

The first section of trail is wheelchair accessible and leads to a rock shelter.

There is a large sign on one of the trees that reads: “Caution Honey Bees in the Tree!”

Other than the bees, this hike is suitable for all ages and is very educational.

Distance: 0.8 mile

Destination: Loop trail

Difficulty: Easy

Elevation gain: None

Getting there: The Upland Trail is located on the 64 acres of the Breazeale-Padilla Bay Interpretive Center. To reach the center, take I-5 north to Exit 231. Turn right at the light at the end of the exit ramp, cross over the freeway and turn left on Josh Wilson Road. Go 6.5 miles. Turn right on Bay View-Edison Road. Pass the entrance to Bay View State Park and find the entrance to the interpretive center on the right in about a quarter-mile.

The Trek: Park in the interpretive center lot and locate the trailhead to the north of the center.

A sign and footprints painted on the concrete lead the way. Get your bearings and head out.

The first portion of the trail is paved. After a bend to the right, reach the first of 12 numbered markers. These coincide with the numbers in the interpretive guide.

No. 1 is “Watershed.” Read all about what a watershed is and what it does.

At a “Y” intersection, the paved portion leads to the rock shelter. Continue straight on a dirt path that leads uphill as one enters a forested section. Toppled trees and broken branches litter the landscape.

Pass a mound of rocks that hikers have used to build artistic cairns.

Stick to the main trail as a large ranching operation is passed on the left. On clear days, Mount Baker can be seen in the distance.

Break out into a meadow, passing a large cedar tree and a bench as the trail turns right. A section of crushed gravel helps keep one’s feet dry along a soggy section of trail. The gravel soon gives way to mowed grass as the trail makes its way through a field.

From the meadow, there are good views of Padilla Bay and the Olympic Mountains.

Pass another bench as the trail descends.

Pass a blue spruce on the right and a cedar on the left. Once again gravel, the trail rolls past a huge Douglas fir. A bench in the shadow of the immense sentinel makes for a great place to take in the surroundings.

Re-enter the forest and proceed downhill.

The canopy is thick, making sunlight rare along this section of trail.

Reach another bench and another “Y.” Proceeding left leads to the nifty rock shelter and the bees.

Retrace your steps, then go left at the intersection as the trail narrows before reaching pavement.

Going left leads to the rock shelter, while heading right leads back to the paved portion of the route, and eventually to the center and the rig.