Located on the south end of Bainbridge Island, Blakely Harbor is a great starting point for walkers, runners, bikers, kayakers and paddle boarders. What I love about Blakely Harbor is how many directions I can go and how little traffic it gets. What my husband loves about it is the abundance of bathrooms – clean bathrooms too.

Here’s a short history on Blakely Harbor:

Blakely Harbor’s heyday occurred over 100 years ago. During the early 1900s, Blakely Harbor was a lumber and shipbuilding town with a community built around the harbor to support both. In 1907, Blakely Harbor was declared home to the largest lumber mill in the world.

Today, the park offers ample on-street and parking lot spaces, as well as beach access to drop your kayak or paddle board in.

What To Do At Blakely Harbor?

Blakely Harbor to Fort Ward Trail

A good first step would be to download a trail map (10.4 mb) from Bainbridge Island Parks and then decide where you want to go. One of my favorite island walks is the Fort Ward to Blakely Harbor Trail. Here’s a description of what you’ll see:

It’s a water-to-water trail that you can walk, run or bike. Along the trail, you’ll see remnants of Fort Ward’s military past including gun batteries, lookouts and living quarters. During WWII, Fort Ward was Puget Sound’s last line of defense and protector of the Bremerton Naval Shipyard.

The roundtrip walk/hike is about 4 miles and can be extended by exploring some of the forks in the trail or walking on the mostly empty streets. For the most part, the people driving around the south end of Bainbridge Island live on the south end so there isn’t much through traffic.

Blakely Harbor to Port Blakely Cemetery

If you’re walking around Blakely Harbor and blink, you may miss the turn for the Port Blakely Cemetery trail. It’s a steeper climb and at the top, you’ll be at the entrance of the cemetery. Here’s more about the Port Blakely Cemetery:

The cemetery was established in 1880 to serve the Port Blakely community. The Port Blakely mill once employed workers from around the world, hence the ethnic diversity seen in the cemetery.  The cemetery continues that diversity today. (PortBlakelyCemetery.org)

When you get to the top, you can turnaround or you can tour the cemetery. The names read like a who’s who of Bainbridge Island history.

Kayaking and Paddle Boarding

Blakely Harbor is normally calm and a great place to drop your kayak/SUP in the water. The harbor is also uncrowded so you don’t have to navigate through a lot of boat traffic. From Blakely Harbor, a neat destination is Blakely Rock. A popular dive spot, Blakely Rock is best visited in the summer during a minus tide when its sandy beach is exposed. Year-round visitors to Blakely Rock will be met and carefully watched by anywhere from 0 to 25+ sea lions.

Places to Eat Near Blakely Harbor

Before you head out, be sure to stop at Lynwood Center. Lynwood Center is also less trafficked and loaded with restaurants, cafes, grocery stores and gift shops. Some popular places include The Marketplace, Treehouse Cafe, Hammy’s, and HeyDay Market. You can walk from Blakely Harbor to Lynwood Center via Pleasant Beach or you could just drive and stop on your way home. On a nice day, sidewalk dining in Lynwood Center is hard to beat.