Deception Pass State Park Redux

Location: Whidbey and Fidalgo Island
Difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (couple of short steep sections)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Mileage: Variable
Passes: Discovery Pass for Day Use,
Season: Year round, but I recommend off-season

So we went back out to Whidbey Island and this time we brought friends. We had such a nice time camping out there last year and were so ready to have our first camping trip of the season it seemed like a great fit. The weather was not as cooperative this year, but we still had fun. I won't go over all the stuff we did, since we did a pretty similar set of hikes. In fact: here's a link to our original post. So read that if you want.

Mostly what I'm going to talk about are the differences, and some things unique to this trip.

1st: big difference Jaxx did not run away in the middle of the night. So thank goodness for that. He did fake that he was completely paralyzed when I put his coat on in the morning and proceeded to walk in backwards circles, which I really ought to take a video of cause it's HILARIOUS. He had everybody in camp just cracking up.

Instead of the Lower Loop campground (near Cranberry Lake), we camped at Bowman Bay. UPGRADE. This campground is way awesome. The views are gorgeous. You're a quick walk out to the point, and an even quicker walk to Bowman Beach. There are great views of Bowman Bay, whereas the Lower Loop your best chance for a view is looking into the forest and you're much more likely to have a view of somebody else's camp. The map is a little misleading cause it makes it look like the sites themselves are much more spaced out, they're not, don't believe it. The campground is much more open as well, which allows for views but don't expect a ton of privacy.

As I mentioned earlier, the weather was not entirely cooperative. It sprinkled off and on during the day and was pretty wet and rainy in the evening. Because the weather was kind of nasty we sort of invaded this little picnic shelter place. Technically this place is by reservation only, but since it's the off-season and we were pretty quiet nobody told us to leave, and we were there from maybe 4-5pm till about 10:30. We made pie-iron pizzas and s'mores, the pie-irons were awesome! And 3 people out of our group (who weren't raised in America and are consequently not huge fatties) had never had s'mores so that was pretty exciting. There are two keys to good s'mores: HoneyMaid graham crackers, off brand is not acceptable, they don't taste right. Good chocolate, my personal favorite is to get the Ghirardelli dark chocolate and caramel dudes cause that's just a delicious combination. Nick played guitar and we sang some songs and told ghost stories.

Around 9:45 a very nice gentleman came down to let us know we were not supposed to be there, but since there was no demand and we hadn't been making a ruckus he just asked that we be out and have the place straightened up by 11 pm.

The only not so good thing that happened on the trip was that Jaxx got kind of sick at the very end of the the hike on Sunday. Hey kept on throwing up, I carried him for a bit, but I ended up sitting with him while the others walked the last mile or so to get the car.

Overall it was a very good weekend. I love doing stuff like this and I especially enjoy it when it's combined with hanging out with awesome people. The whole weekend was perfectly capped off by getting some really god-damned delicious burger. On the way north on Hwy 2 there's this little shack with a sign advertising oysters and other sea food. It's right across a small road from a fire station and holy god is it delicious. I got a crab burger and Chris got the Big Kahuna Burger (beef patty, fried spam, pineapple and an onion ring). Everything was awesome. I'm a little bummed I didn't get the chance to try their milkshakes. Next time!