Hikers can take a stroll through Bainbridge Island history and celebrate the harvest season along its newest recreational trail.

The BI Parks and Trails Foundation Oct. 25 officially opened the Farm Trail, a rolling half-mile path that spans the community farm district between Day Road E and NE Lovgreen Road. The foundation provided light refreshments and a seasonal scavenger hunt for natural and agricultural elements of the trail: orange pumpkins, white snowberries, brown Douglas fir cones, lichen, bugs and more.

“The Farm Trail offers a scenic walk that connects our communities to the beauty of the natural landscape while linking us to part of our island’s rural history and local farm community,” city manager Blair King said at the ceremony.

Heading south from Day Road, the trail passes the historic Suyematsu Farm and vineyard, Grace Church and its mini-trail system and labyrinth, the outdoor-education-focused Island School and biodynamic produce grower Butler Green Farms. The trail is wide, woodchipped, and undulates across the landscape. Families enjoying the Suyematsu pumpkin patch provide a bucolic contrast to a thick lowland deciduous forest that is alive with songbirds.

“It offers up-close views of the historic working farms and vineyards that have given us island-grown produce for generations,” foundation director Mary Meier said.

It also connects to a network of other trails, which lead to the BI Community Food Forest and a small pond along Manzanita Creek.

There are three other access points to the trail. Hikers can find it via trailheads that connect to the south end of the Farm Trail at Charles Place NE and the outlook at NE Kenwood Avenue. Some parking is available at the Charles Place trailhead and at Grace Church Mondays through Saturdays.

Plans for the trail have long been in the works. Since the Open Space Bond was passed in 2001, the city has purchased fields, forested areas and wildlife habitat as passive parks. The city helps build trails on the land, then slowly transitions management to the BI Metro Parks and Recreation District. Hidden Cove Park, Rockaway Beach and the Forest to Sky Trail are all products of the bond.

The Farm Trail also fulfills a portion of the city’s Sustainable Transportation Plan, King said. The city contributed initial funding and permitting; the parks district built the trail and will maintain it; the foundation provided additional funding, land acquisition and stewardship; and the Island School and Grace Church contributed land easements.

A couple walk their dog along the new trail.

A new public trail sign marks the entrance to the new trail on Day Rd E.

Suyematsu Farm grows pumpkins and other fruits and vegetables.

Molly Hetherwick/Kitsap News Group photos The trail has spots to sit and relax.

Two city employees follow the trail as it slopes toward Day Road E.