Deception Pass State Park: Part 2

This post is going to go up a day early since tomorrow promises to be a bit hectic. 

I woke up after dozing off for a bit and thought to myself “Hmmmm there’s no dog in my sleeping bag. Where the hell is Jaxx?” He usually sleeps in my bag when it’s cold, because he’s spoiled and I don’t mind the extra warmth. I woke Chris up to make sure he wasn’t with him. Turned out he’d nosed his way out of Chris’ door. Shit. Shit. Shit.

If you’ve ever had a pet disappear, you know it sucks. It’s especially awful when you’re in an unfamiliar place and your dog has a particular affinity for cars. I ran out of the tent and started whistling from him. Got about 50 yards from camp and this woman came around a building and asked “Did you lose your dog? Is his name Jaxx?” Oh thank god. He had just wandered into a neighboring campsite where people were still up. My dog likes to party. Needless to say we’ll be investing in some small carabiners to seal the tent zippers at night. But everything was fine, although I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night, first because I was totally afraid that I was going to lose Jaxx again, second because by this time the tent was slowly beginning to collapse.

For me the tent wasn’t really a problem. I like small spaces and it wasn’t completely collapsed so I didn’t have tent material on my face. The nice thing about your tent collapsing is that it’s really toasty. It’s a general rule of thumb that the less space inside a shelter and the lower the ceiling the warmer it’s going to be, since warm air travels up. This goes for primitive shelters as well. However, Chris is a lot bigger than me and he had damp tent on his face. Not pleasant. He didn’t want to move to the car, so poor guy ended up rolling up his sleeping mat and using it to prop up the center of the tent. Around this time I finally passed out. 

Ko-Kwal-alwoot

Next day we struck camp pretty quick and went up to the north end of the park (Fidalgo Island) to do some additional hiking. It was warmer and even prettier out. On the way we stopped and took some pictures from the bridge (Above). We started out at Rosario Beach, which WTA had mentioned as a very pretty spot. My favorite part was this gorgeous carved Samish (Native Americans indigenous to the area) statue of Ko-Kwal-Alwoot, also known as The Maiden of Deception Pass, who ended up marrying the family that rules the sea. The carving is beautiful, but really I love the story, you can read it here.

Day two was short, we were both pretty exhausted from the previous day’s hike and the long night. Only hiked about miles total, but it was a beautiful day. The Olympic mountains were out in the west (click on the photo below to see them a bit more clearly). One thing that struck me (on both days), especially being from a coastal region myself, is how clear and empty the water is here. I’m used to surging surf, tons of kelp and sea life. In the area I grew up in California the water and sea life is pretty similar to what you find in Washington marine areas, tide pools and rocks seem to be alive with all manner of sea urchins, crabs, starfish, different types of sea plants. Here it was just empty which, while a little jarring for me, does make for some beautiful water. I could almost pretend I was in the Mediterranean.

Overall definitely go visit Whidbey, but I would recommend going during the week, or off season to avoid lots of groups. Unless you are one of those people who love car camping, because you're very social and inevitably make friends with everybody in neighboring sites. Good for you, you damn alien. 

WTA Link for our second hike here. It's also highlighted in red on the map of the park in Part 1.

Deception Pass State Park: Part 1

 

Location: Whidbey and Fidalgo Island

Difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (couple of short steep sections)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Mileage: Variable
Fees/Passes: $22 for drive in $12 for bike/hike in sites

Season: Year round, but I recommend off-season

This past weekend Chris and I really wanted to get out of the city. The first camping trip of the year always seems to end up being car camping. Probably because we don’t have our gear assembled yet and are just generally not prepared (as you will see). So this year we went out to Whidbey Island and camped at Deception Pass State Park. We were suppose to go with a goup of hikers we are friends with but the date ended up getting moved to this coming weekend, at which time Chris and I will be in Olympia visiting family. Since both of us were looking forward to the trip we decided to go a week early on our own.

The trip was kind of a mixed bag.

First thing we were in a state park campground. Which means it was noisy and we were jammed up against neighboring campers. Luckily it was still early in the season so it wasn’t completely packed, we only had neighbors on one side and there was some decent brush giving us some privacy, but still it sort of ruins it if you can hear somebody’s radio. There are some bike/hike/kayak in spots that are a little more secluded which I’d like to check out sometime. Especially the boat in ones since they’re on smaller surrounding islands.

When we arrived we decided to set up our tent so we’d have less to do when we got back from our hike. It also gave the marine fog a little extra time to finish burning off. I pulled out the fly, the tent, the..... oh shit. No poles. Chris had forgot to check the bag before he packed it. Luckily we have a Subaru Forester so if things like this come up we can always sleep in the car, but Chris decided he was going to fashion some tent poles out of sticks and some zip ties we had in the car. So what should have taken about 3 minutes took about 45. While it wasn’t the prettiest tent in the world, I have to say, he did a pretty good job.

By this time it was absolutely gorgeous, about 70 degrees and clear as a bell. We hiked around the outside of the southern part of the island (outlined in red above). From West Beach up around the perimeter of Goose Rock. All the trails we hiked on were in very good condition. The trail around West Beach is at least partially paved, and then the rest are well maintained, with only a few spots that were muddy. We saw some very pretty views. Including one stunner with some islands and Mt. Baker all virgin whiteness standing in the distance (yeah that’s totally not a cloud in that picture below, that’s a mountain). The tidal flow that goes through Deception Pass itself is super scary. It’s just boiling surging water. I’d love to kayak around the island sometime, but I’ll definitely not even get close to that area (there will be a picture of this in part 2).

After our hike we went and had a couple beers on the beach (in non-glass containers thank you!). Going through winter in the Northwest always leaves me, and pretty much everyone, wanting to soak up the sun. Also, we forgot to bring board games. When we came back to camp and had camp Indian food (which I will post on at a later date), enjoyed our campfire and went to get some sleep. Or so we thought...

Continued here.

Trail Review: Anti-Aircraft Ridge

Location: Issaquah Alps

Difficulty: Easy (~600 ft of elevation gain)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Mileage: 6-7, but lots of opportunities for shorter hikes as well
Fees/Passes: None
Season: November - April

It’s always tricky in Western Washington to figure out good hikes in March that isn't going to be snowed in. You’re options are either to go out to the peninsula, the San Juans or some places in the Southern Cascades. The Peninsula is tricky if you have a dog, since so much of it is National Park, in addition both it and the San Juans have the added complication and cost of ferry rides. Going down to The Gorge or Southern Cascades isn't ideal either, it’s a long drive and areas may still be snowed in. If you don’t have time to do an overnight or multiday hike, this means you’re in for an extremely long day.

Which is why early in the season a lot of people, especially in the Seattle area end up settling for hiking/walking in some of the more expansive urban parks in Seattle (Discovery Park, Carkeek Park, etc.) and parts of the Issaquah Alps. A nice bonus for these hikes is that none of them require passes or have day use fees.

Chris, Jaxx and I have done a few of these, and this was probably one of the prettier ones. There are tons of trails in Cougar Mountain Park so you have a lot of options in terms of length. There isn't a lot of variation in difficulty since there isn't much elevation gain or loss for any of the hikes. Some have short bursts of slightly steeper terrain, but they are typically short. There are some nice views if you can find places without trees. You can see the lake in the valley below and we did get a nice peak at Mt. Baker in the distance. My favorite section that we hiked was Klondike Swamp. While it doesn't have majestic views it has definite swamp(ish) charm, lots of gnarled trees covered in moss etc.

WTA recommends this hike November through May, mostly to avoid mosquitoes I probably won’t hike here after April because of crowds. On an overcast (not rainy) day we saw probably 10 people or more, which doesn't sound like much when I write it down, but I like more solitary hikes. I imagine this place gets packed by mid-late spring.

Sorry about the lack of photos, cam-jam was dead.

WTA Hike Link (including directions)