Many San Juan Islands (NW Washington State above the Olympics) Our Paddle Route (from Les Moore) A group picture just before launching the kayaks.
Kayaking Anacortes to Friday Harbor (about 25 miles, 7-30-2011)
The event was a Peninsula Wilderness Club (PWC) event sponsored by Les Moore (who sponsored kayaking the Indian Island Circumnavigation 3 weeks ago). I wanted to backpack the interior of the Olympics (NW Washington State) but there are still way too much snow in the high country (above 4000 ft), and needed to be careful about too much weekends away from home. Debating dayhiking or kayaking, at the last minute, I chose to Kayak since this PWC trip looked like an excellent kayaking trip in San Juan Islands area (to learn the area where it has so many beautiful islands near the border with Canada.)
I tremendously enjoyed this trip (a paddling trip that I
don’t mind going by skipping my hiking trip): an unforgettable experience in
open-sea kayaking (including capsized once),"the expansive views (as the
hikers calls the views from the high country)," and excellent exercise (I
got tired around 24 miles). The diverse
views of the nature along the coast of islands were simply "the expansive
views": strange rock formation, a small island in the middle of Rosario
Strait,
kelp and seaweed along the shore, seals, sea birds, etc. I
got capsized once but nothing was dangerous as I was comfortable in
capsizing in the water and there was a small chance of hyperthermia with dry
suits on in the summer.
Many
San Juan Islands (NW Washington State above the Olympics) Our
Paddle Route (from Les Moore) A
group picture just before launching the kayaks.
Day 1 (Drove to Kingston, Ferry ride, Drove to Anacortes. Drive around the "Loop" in the WA park.)
Charlie, Paul, and I left Bremerton around 1500. We
met up Les (from Port Townsend) and Connie (from Ocean Shore) at the Washington
(WA) Park. Took Kingston
ferry and drove to the WA Park (about 1 mile west of the Anacortes ferry
terminal) at 1930: Kingston ferry was busy (waited more than one
hour). Then, the drive along the I-5 from
Edmonds to
Marysville met with commuter traffic going at 15-20 miles per hour. Our lessons learned was to take Port Townsend
ferry to Key Stone (needs a reservation).
The WA
Park had a very nice
campground. It was jam packed but Les (our trip leader) reserved one hookup
campground for us (for $24 per night). Paul
gave us a tour by driving around the Loop (within the WA Park),
which was about 2-3 miles of paved road/trail.
We were glad to have some fire woods for a couple of hours. We turned in at 2230.
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Day 2 (Epic kayaking from Anacortes to Friday Harbor,
25 miles, Average speed at above 4 knots,
Capsized once, etc)
It started out with a thick foggy
day but it was cleared to a blue sky day in the middle of our jaunt. For this trip, I was ready to Kayak with full
of energy being rested for 5-days after summiting the Mt Adams with the PWC
hikers. We quickly paddled crossing the
open ocean (Rosario Strait) to the South Eastern edge of the Lopez Island. That's where I capsized. We met with rough waves created by "tidal rip"
or possibly a "tidal rapid". I was comfortable with my
Kayak and its stability, but did not know what I needed to do in that kind of turbulent
water (not consistent waves) and I did not pay particular attention to what the
others were doing. I was washed away to a
less choppy area (maybe less than 2 minute in the water) - I hung on to my
paddle and secured my kayak placing my left foot inside the cockpit (as I almost
lost my kayak by choppy water). When the others arrived, I was quickly rescued
less than 1 minute. Then, Connie
gave me a quick tip: keep the paddle in the water in paddling motion. It made a lot of sense as the paddle was used for
bracing. The tip gave me a huge confidence
staying upright and moving out of a patch of the bigger tidal rip for a couple more
times !!! Avoided capsizing 4 times !!! We moved along fast averaging 4.2 knots
that included 2 stops and 1 lunch. My both shoulders got finally
tired about 1-2 miles before the Friday Harbor. .
I usually take lots
of pictures but not so many pictures on this trip. Because I was capsized and my camera was not water
proof, I did not have any other pictures other than some pictures I took prior
to capsizing and a few pictures I took with my cell phone on the way home on
the ferry.
We got up at 0600. Launched the Kayaks at 0800. We
stopped by 2 places to relieve and 1 lunch stop. Arrived at the Friday Harbor Ferry terminal around
1520. We took 1540 ferry, Friday Harbor
to Anacortes (free ride with Kayak !). Came
back home around 2045 on the same routes (I-5, Edmonds Ferry, etc.). What
a fantastic kayaking day with the fellow PWC members !!!
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On the way back from Friday Harbor (using my cell phone):
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Here were some nice pictures from Paul:
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Below was our trip leader (Les Moore)'s trip description before the trip and his trip report in pdf (900 Kbytes) (Click HERE)::
This is Class III paddle. We'll leave Friday night and camp near Anacortes. There's camping at Washington Park and car parking there for $6/day. This will let us launch from Washington Park at 8 am, an hour before the max ebb current in Rosario Strait. The current will help carry us around the southern end of Lopez Island where we'll have lunch, waiting for the flood to develop. The flood will help propel us through Cattle Pass (between San Juan and Lopez Islands), and onward to Friday Harbor. From Friday Harbor we'll take the free ferry ride back to Anacortes, and continue on home.
We recommend that you bring a kayak carrier for loading
your boat on and off the Friday
Harbor ferry.
Trip Details:
Spend Friday night July 29 at Washington Park
campground. From I-5 take Highway 20 west. Enter Anacortes on Spur 20 and take Commercial Avenue
to 12th Street.
Turn left on 12th (Oaks Ave.)
and follow the signs (approximately 3 miles) to Washington Park.
1. Put-in at Sunset
Beach will be at 8 am
sharp Saturday July 30.
2 We'll cross Rosario Strait from Picnic Point (Washington Park)
to Boulder Island (SE Lopez Is.). Course
calculation: 3 kt/192 magnetic estimated mean current / 3 kt/222 magnetic
bearing = 5.7 kt/209 magnetic course/5.56 nm/58 minute crossing.
3. From Boulder Island, we'll paddle around the Southern end of Lopez Island
to Iceberg Point for lunch. This leg of the trip is 4.4 nm / 3 kt estimated
speed = 1.5 hours (we'll have some current assist, too).
4. We should reach Iceberg Point by 11 am. We'll rest and
eat lunch at Agate
Beach Country
Park (Iceberg Point) and
start paddling again by 12:30 pm.
5. We'll paddle west from Iceberg Point to Cattle Pass
to hit 2 pm maximum flood at Cattle
Pass. This leg of the
trip is 4.3 nm / 3 kt estimated speed = 1.4 hours (we'll have some current
assist, too).
6. We'll cross San Juan Channel from Shark Reef (small rock)
to Danger Rock (San Juan Is.). Course calculation: 2 kt/358 magnetic estimated
mean current / 3 kt/303 magnetic bearing = 4.47 kt/325 magnetic course/2.82
nm/38 minute crossing.
7. From Danger Rock, we'll complete the last leg of our
paddle around Reef Point, Turn Island and Brown Island into Friday Harbor (2.7
nm / 3 kt estimated speed = 54 minutes, with some current assist again.
8.
We'll take out at Friday Harbor,
attach our kayak wheels and board the next ferry back to Anacortes (free
ferry). We should reach Friday
Harbor by 3:45 and have
plenty of time to catch the 4:50 pm ferry.
9. We can either put our boats back into the water at the
ferry terminal and paddle 1.5 miles back to Washington Park,
or leave our boats and walk the same distance back to our cars.
