Kayaking in the Pacific Northwest
Posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I’m just back from the San Juan Islands off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, where six of us spent four days and three nights kayaking and camping amongst the beautiful San Juan Islands.
I got sick just before we left, and on the drive from Seattle the sky got dark gray and thunder rumbled close by and lightning arced over the highway ahead of us. We were supposed to camp that night but I wasn’t disappointed that we ended up in a motel instead!
July 3: I woke up feeling almost all better. We saw Orcas from the ferry! The weather was still terrible, and as we set out in our kayaks there was still the odd rumble and flash. It was a long paddle to Jones Island, which included crossing the choppy open water at Upright Channel. Jones Island had a green meadow for our tent, and deer, and a breeze to dry our clothes.
July 4: A straight shot up the West coast of Orcas Island, past Turtleback Mountain to Point Doughty, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever set foot.
July 5: Around the North Coast of Orcas to North Beach, from where we got a ride down to Deer Harbor for a relatively short day to Indian Cove. We had planned a longer day, but the wind was up which makes for lousy kayaking. Our new route was shorter and less windy. At Indian Cove we saw a Sunset Rainbow — like a sunset but in the East! Very wierd.
July 6: Early start, short paddle back to Lopez Island where we dropped off the kayaks, got the ferry back to the mainland and flew back home.