One-way
≈2 hr: drive + Edmonds–Kingston ferry + peninsula roads
Day trip 07 · about ~2 hr one way
Port Townsend + Fort Worden
A Victorian seaport frozen at its 1890 peak, guarded by a clifftop artillery fort where the batteries are open for scrambling, the lighthouse marks the Sound's turning point, and every trail and beach welcomes a leashed dog. The longest ride on the list, and the most transporting.
~2 hr one way
56 mi + ferry
8–10 hours
Discover Pass
Dogs OK · beaches too
Ferry
Edmonds → Kingston, 30 min, ~every 40–50 minShape of the day
Out-and-back (same ferry both ways)Dog verdict
Excellent — leashed dogs on all Fort Worden trails AND beachesPasses
Discover Pass at Fort Worden; ferry fareThe far point
Point Wilson Light + Artillery Hill batteriesGetting there from downtown
Two hours that feel like time travel: north out of the city, a half-hour saltwater crossing, then forty-five minutes across the Kitsap and Quimper peninsulas — over the Hood Canal floating bridge — into a town whose entire downtown is a National Historic Landmark district.
- Downtown → Edmonds terminal16 mi · ~22 min
I-5 north to exit 177, then WA-104 west down to the Edmonds waterfront dock.
- Edmonds → Kingston ferry30 min crossing
30 minutes across the Sound's widest reach; sailings roughly every 40–50 minutes. Summer vehicle queues peak late morning westbound.
- Kingston → Hood Canal Bridge14 mi · ~18 min
WA-104 west across northern Kitsap, then the mile-and-a-half floating bridge over Hood Canal — it occasionally opens for submarines, which is both a delay and a spectacle.
- Bridge → Port Townsend26 mi · ~32 min
WA-19/WA-20 north up the Quimper Peninsula through Chimacum's farm valley into town.
- Downtown → Fort Worden2 mi · ~6 min
Cherry St climbs from Water Street two miles to the fort's gates; park near the parade ground or continue to the beach lots.
- Home56 mi + 30 min crossing
Retrace to Kingston; the eastbound evening boats are quieter than the westbound morning ones.
Edmonds–Kingston ferry playbook
The workhorse north-Sound crossing: big boats, half-hour ride, and the one leg of this trip you should actively schedule around. Summer Fridays and Saturdays, westbound queues build from ~10 AM; eastbound home is worst 4–6 PM Sunday.
- Target the ~8:00–8:30 AM boat out and you'll beat everything.
- WSF's app/Vessel Watch shows the Edmonds holding-lane estimate live — check it at breakfast.
- Walk the passenger deck: Baker to the north, Rainier to the south, and the Olympics dead ahead.
Your day, hour by hour
7:45
Edmonds dock
Early boat; pastry from the bakery by the terminal while you queue.
8:45
Kingston → the bridges
WA-104 west; Hood Canal floating bridge with the Olympics stacked behind it.
10:00
Water Street
The 1890 downtown: brick blocks, the Hastings Building, bookstores, and a bluff staircase to the uptown district.
12:00
Lunch in town
Waterfront pizza slice or pub deck over the bay.
13:00
Fort Worden
Artillery Hill's concrete batteries (bring a phone light), parade-ground lawns, and the beach walk to Point Wilson Light.
15:30
North Beach detour
The locals' driftwood strand below the bluffs, then one last uptown ice cream.
16:30
Roll for the boat
Aim for a ~5:30–6 PM Kingston sailing; downtown Seattle by ~7:30.
Worth stopping for
Water Street historic district
Three blocks of nearly untouched 1889–1892 brick and cast iron — the whole downtown is a National Historic Landmark. Dog-friendly sidewalk browsing at its best.
MapHastings Building & the bluff stairs
The finest Victorian commercial pile in the state, and the Haller Fountain staircase connecting downtown to the uptown residential grid of painted ladies.
MapFort Worden State Park
434 acres of parade grounds, officer's row, clifftop artillery batteries you can walk into, and miles of bluff-and-beach trail. Leashed dogs are welcome on effectively all of it.
MapArtillery Hill batteries
A concrete labyrinth of 1900s gun emplacements in the forest — kids and dogs both find it irresistible. Bring a light for the magazine rooms.
MapPoint Wilson Lighthouse
The 1914 light where Admiralty Inlet turns into Puget Sound — shipping traffic parades past the beach all day.
MapNorth Beach Park
The town's quieter driftwood beach below the bluffs, contiguous with Fort Worden's shoreline at lower tides.
MapPort Townsend Marine Science Center
Touch tanks and a gray whale skeleton on the Fort Worden pier (dogs stay outside, but the pier walk is worth it).
MapWith the dog
Excellent — the rare state park where beaches, bluffs, batteries, and lawns are all leash-legal, attached to a town that treats dogs as citizens.
- Fort Worden: 8-foot leash everywhere; beaches included. No off-leash zone, and rangers do circulate.
- Point Wilson beach: watch posted seasonal closures for shorebird nesting on the spit's tip.
- Downtown: standard sidewalk rules; several Water Street patios and at least one bookstore keep treat jars.
Battery stairwells have unrailed drops — leash short inside. Bluff edges on the Fort Worden ridge trails are soft. The beach cobble is hard on soft paws after a couple of miles; the parade-ground grass is the recovery lap.
Food & coffee
Waterfront Pizza
Water StreetSourdough-crust slices from a closet-sized landmark — the correct fort picnic.
MapSirens Pub
Water Street, upstairsDeck over the bay; fish and chips and local pints.
MapElevated Ice Cream
Water StreetThe town's 1977 ice-cream institution — swiss orange chip.
MapBetter Living Through Coffee
WaterfrontBluff-window espresso for the drive home.
MapPasses, parking & costs
- Edmonds–Kingston ferry: fare both directions on this route (unlike Bainbridge); car + driver ≈ $17–22 each way in summer.
- Discover Pass for Fort Worden's lots ($10 day / $30 annual — same pass as Whidbey's parks).
- Downtown parking is free-with-limits on Water Street; the fort's beach lots are the pass.
Timing & conditions
This is the trip to give a full day and a hard ferry plan — the crossing schedule is the skeleton, everything else is soft tissue.
Fog burns off the inlet by late morning in summer; the batteries are atmospheric IN fog, so an overcast start costs nothing.
The Hood Canal bridge occasionally opens ~30–60 min for Navy traffic — the WSDOT alert feed (linked) tweets openings; check before each crossing window.
The place, in photos
Real photography — AllTrails contributors, Wikimedia Commons, and Openverse (CC); credits in credits.json.
