WOODWAY – Just below this quiet town’s bluff, there’s a group of people who lounge in the buff.
For decades, secluded, they stripped themselves bare, drinking in sun and the open air.
Then came the Sounder, commuters galore, chugging along the meandering shore.
Three summers of riders, they peek and they stare, trying to spy a soft derriere.
“Every day we look outside the train and count how many (men) are there in their birthday suits,” said Sarah Thompson of Edmonds.
“It’s a plus for riding the train. It’s an added bonus. It’s the entertainment factor for the Sounder.”
Word of a beach frequented by naked men has spread among passengers on the afternoon Sounder commuter trains that bring Seattle workers north to Edmonds and Everett.
The spectacle is the smallest slice of a leisurely hour-long train ride, but still a highlight, riders said.
“It’s just a fleeting maybe four or five seconds, but it’s definitely worth it,” said Cecile Bagrow of Edmonds.
Train riders read, nap or type away on laptops far away from the stutter-start traffic on I-5.
The afternoon train drifts past inlets where children dig in the sand, where families and fishermen wave at the passing train.
As it crosses the Snohomish County line into Woodway, riders’ attention drifts to the water, to the beach.
Books close and typing pauses long enough for a gaze out the window.
They pass the giant tanks at the roofing and paving plant, the final landmark.
A rocky beach is just beyond, bounded by the railroad tracks, fences and the water.
“I doubt anybody would think they’re going to see naked people out there,” Thompson said. “The first time, I had to do a double take.”
The beach is called “Peter Point,” said Thompson, a project manager who has seen the sights since first riding the train in August 2004.
“You would have to be one of the people that sleeps both ways (on the train) to miss it,” she said. “They’re right there.”
Most commuters know, or are quick to find out, what all of the giggling and pointing is about.
“All the women pile themselves up against the window,” said Steve Barber, a rider who works for King County law enforcement. “It’s comic relief.”
People crane for a look out the window. The spectacle is becoming an icebreaker that initiates new riders, Thompson said.
Some men are lying on towels. Some are walking around, or waving to the train. Some stand and stare out at the water, while others scamper for cover. Some jump into view to shock riders with, er, an affront.
“Most of the time we have to get up out of our seats to look out the window,” Thompson said. “It depends on who’s on the train. Sometimes we get kind of rowdy about it.”
It’s strange that the rowdiness begins in Woodway, whose motto is “The Quiet Place.”
By some accounts, the beach has been frequented by gay men since the 1930s.
“Just about everybody in town is aware,” Woodway Mayor Carla Nichols said. “Now that we have the commuter trains going regularly, it makes sense it would eventually become a feature.”
The beach is private property visited mostly by men, she said.
“We’ve had no complaints from any residents,” she said.
George Galpin owns part of the beach but can’t reach it because of the railroad tracks, which are private property.
“You do see nude guys walking around down there,” he said. “They don’t seem to be particularly bashful to me.”
He said an old timer in town told him men have frequented the beach for seven decades. “Going back a long time, it’s been a gay beach, a gay nude beach, I guess you could call it.”
Woodway Police Chief Doug Hansen said he’s been aware of naked men on the beach all 20 years he’s worked for Woodway, but more have been seen in the past five years.
Police occasionally team up with Edmonds Police and Snohomish and King county deputies to shoo nude sunbathers off of the beach, Hansen said.
Police officers said men contacted on the beach are mostly from King County and other countries, Hansen said. Their reaction to police enforcement ranges from “openly hostile to embarrassed,” he said.
Nude sunbathing and trespassing on private property are against the law, he said. Tickets are seldom issued and officers prefer to give warnings.
Each warm day brings speculation among the riders: Will there be naked men today? How many?
“There’s an average of six a day,” Thompson said. “Sometimes there’s more, sometimes less. Sometimes we’re disappointed because there aren’t any.”
It’s not an easy place to reach.
One Canadian Web site describes its location, and another warns of the danger from trains and police. To get to the beach, people trespass on property owned by either the railroad or the petroleum company.
Some Sounder passengers recall seeing men ride to the beach together on a yellow jet ski.
“I was told, ‘This is the best beach. You’re going to love to take a look,’ ” said John Hazelwood, a Marysville rider who works for King County law enforcement. “I want my money back,” he joked about the view.
These are not your Playgirl centerfolds, said Bagrow, a Seattle hospital administrator.
Still, “if I’ve gotta take the train, I might as well take one with a view, right?”
Sound Transit advertises the Sounder train ride as offering “comfortable, scenic rides.” No mention is made of a nude beach.
“It apparently has become among the sights and sounds Puget Sound has to offer the commuting public, something to look forward to after a long arduous day at work,” said Mark Olson, Sound Transit vice chairman and Everett city councilman.
“And I thought the increase in ridership was due to the increased service provided by Sound Transit …” he said.
Society’s conventions on clothing abound, but along the train’s route no rule book is found.
Riders see details of a physical nature that aren’t polite for this family paper.
Suffice it to say that in late afternoons, some men are surprised to see the full moons.
A half dozen teenagers, backsides hanging out – A bare-chested woman, what’s that all about?
Barber sums it up with a firm guarantee:
“You never know what you are going to see.”
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
