Isaac's Journey Home Page

Incredible 4 days of Sea-Kayaking & Hiking Trip to San Juan Island, WA (26-29 April 2013)

The San Juan Islands are located at the very Northwest corner of the Washington State or the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.   The area has lots of islands.  The prominent islands are Guemess, Sinclair, Cypress, Blakely, Orcas, Shaw, Decatur, Lopes, and San Juan (Fridays Harbor).   The trip was a PWC event planned and coordinated by Paul Dutky.   This year's multi-days kayak trip was on the very west side of the San Juan Island. Paul described the trip as " We'll take the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor Friday morning,  then drive to Roche Harbor to begin our exploration of Stuart Island and the entire west side of San Juan Island. "    

Last year,  when we went 3 days of kayaking trip to San Juan Islands (Doe and James Islands),  we had 12 paddlers but, this year,  it was just Paul and I since the trip was scheduled a bit late.    Much thanks to Paul for planning this wonderful trip.    To plan for this kind of multi-days kayak trip,  one requires a good understanding of the area,  possible adversary sea conditions,  back up plan (bail out areas for safety), and decent kayaking skill.   Paul certainly had them all.   If we had a bigger group with less paddling skill,  the trip would have been modified accordingly.  A bigger paddling group with decent paddling skills is desired for the safety reasons but I felt that I was qualified to do this trip in a small group as I have practiced quite a bit of paddling skills this year (paddling strokes, rolling, bracing, assisted rescuing, & re-entry roll) in the pool and occasionally in the cold water.    I've recommended Paul make a kayak multi-days trip in April as an annual PWC event.

Sight Seeing:
a. The main highlights were seeing the Orcas, the Bald Eagles, and the non-native Red Foxes (could be orange, silver, black or any combination therof).
b. The others were the Seals, river Otter's,  Oyster Catchers, Sea birds, Shorn/unshorn domestic sheep,  a herd (50-60) of wild deer in Spieden Island, Wild deer (Mouflon) in Stuart Island,  and Red Foxes.
c.  Lime Kilns Sites at Lime Kiln Point State Park.
d. Marine life museum at Cattle Point.
e. Drove around the San Juan Island for about 45 minutes (Jackles' Cove at American Camp,, Cattle Point, etc).

Day 1:  Cloudy day.   Paddled 15 miles in Class 3 (1205-1640).  Tide info:  04:49 7.2H, 11:52 -1.5L, 19:28 7.4H .  Hiked 3 miles with less than 200 ft elev gain.   
a.  Drove, took 0700am Kingston ferry, drove, took 0930am Anacortes ferry, and drove to Roche Harbor.   Started (1205pm) our paddling trip here.
b. Paddled around clockwise to Stuart Island State Park for camping. Setup our tents.
c.  Hiked  to the Turn Point Light House.  3 miles + 2 miles of car ride.   Paul met a park caretaker back in Roche Harbor.  We met him just before the road.  He was happened to be there by our luck.  d. Had a nice camp fire and dinner.  There were plenty down trees around the camp site.   Always to carry a hand saw !
e. Fresh water was not turned on yet at the Stuart Island State Park Camp site.  Water was supposed to be available on 1 May.

a1-Driving.jpg

a-GPS tracks.jpg

B1-paddle- day 1.jpg

b-hike day 1.jpg

DSCF0157.JPG

DSCF0158.JPG

DSCF0161.JPG

DSCF0164.JPG

DSCF0167.JPG

DSCF0173.JPG

DSCF0177.JPG

DSCF0181.JPG

DSCF0183.JPG

DSCF0189.JPG

DSCF0191.JPG

DSCF0193.JPG

DSCF0198.JPG

DSCF0199.JPG

DSCF0202.JPG

DSCF0203.JPG

DSCF0205.JPG

DSCF0206.JPG

DSCF0207.JPG

DSCF0209.JPG

DSCF0210.JPG

DSCF0212.JPG

DSCF0213.JPG

DSCF0215.JPG

DSCF0215a.jpg

DSCF0222.JPG

DSCF0224.JPG

DSCF0225.JPG

DSCF0228.JPG

DSCF0230.JPG

DSCF0232.JPG

DSCF0236.JPG

DSCF0238.JPG

DSCF0241b.jpg

DSCF0243.JPG

DSCF0244.JPG

DSCF0245.JPG

DSCF0247.JPG

DSCF0250.JPG

 

 

Day 2:  Cloudy & Sunny day.   Paddled 16 miles in Class 4 (0840-1530 (included hiking)). Tide Info: 00:16 4.8L, 05:22 7.2H, 12:35 -1.9L, 20:23 7.8H.   Hiked 2 miles with less than 200 ft elev gain.  
a. Paddled from Stuart Island State Park to South, to the west of San Juan Island.  
b. Padded past our camp site (San Juan County Park).
c. Took lunch break at Lime Kiln State Park.   Toured the Lime Kilns sites.   Hiked about 2 miles.
d. Padded back up to San Juan Island County Park for camping.   Setup our tents.
e. Viewed the Orcas (4-5 Orcas).
f. Had a nice camp fire and dinner.    Camp fire woods were gathered from the beach.  
g.  Fresh water was available at San Juan County Park.

a-Paddle Day 2.jpg

b-hike Day 2.jpg

DSCF0250.JPG

DSCF0253.JPG

DSCF0257.JPG

DSCF0261.JPG

DSCF0262.JPG

DSCF0263.JPG

DSCF0268.JPG

DSCF0269.JPG

DSCF0271.JPG

DSCF0272.JPG

DSCF0274.JPG

DSCF0276.JPG

DSCF0279.JPG

DSCF0282.JPG

DSCF0285.JPG

DSCF0286.JPG

DSCF0288.JPG

DSCF0291.JPG

DSCF0292.JPG

DSCF0293.JPG

DSCF0294.JPG

DSCF0295.JPG

DSCF0296.JPG

DSCF0297.JPG

DSCF0298.JPG

DSCF0299.JPG

DSCF0300.JPG

DSCF0301.JPG

DSCF0303.JPG

DSCF0304.JPG

DSCF0305.JPG

DSCF0306.JPG

DSCF0308.JPG

DSCF0310.JPG

DSCF0312.JPG

DSCF0314.JPG

DSCF0318.JPG

DSCF0319.JPG

DSCF0323.JPG

DSCF0326.JPG

DSCF0331.JPG

DSCF0333.JPG

DSCF0334.JPG

DSCF0335.JPG

DSCF0339.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3: Sunny,  Cloudy, and Rainy Day.   Only rain when we went to sleep !   Paddled 20 miles in Class 4 (0920-1620).  Tide info: 01:11 5.2L, 06:00 7.2H, 13:22 -2.0L, 21:20 7.9H.   Hiked about 1 mile with less than 100 ft  elev gain.

a. Paddled south and continued going around San Juan Island on the West Side.  
b. Ate lunch at Cattle Pass (the site housed a wireless compass station in 1920s).
c. Paddled around the Cattle Point and visited Jackle's Cove, American Camp .
d. Arrived at Turn Island State Park for Camping.  Setup our tents.  Hiked about 1 mile.
e. No camp fire was allowed but had a nice hot dinner before started raining at 0830pm.  Went to bed early.
f. No fresh water source a Turn Island State Park.

a-paddle day 3.jpg

b-hike day 3.jpg

DSCF0343.JPG

DSCF0346.JPG

DSCF0348.JPG

DSCF0349.JPG

DSCF0352.JPG

DSCF0353.JPG

DSCF0355.JPG

DSCF0356.JPG

DSCF0358.JPG

DSCF0360.JPG

DSCF0361.JPG

DSCF0363.JPG

DSCF0364.JPG

DSCF0366.JPG

DSCF0372.JPG

DSCF0375.JPG

DSCF0376.JPG

DSCF0377.JPG

DSCF0379.JPG

DSCF0380.JPG

DSCF0381.JPG

DSCF0382.JPG

DSCF0383.JPG

DSCF0384.JPG

DSCF0385.JPG

DSCF0386.JPG

DSCF0387.JPG

DSCF0389.JPG

DSCF0391.JPG

DSCF0392.JPG

DSCF0393.JPG

DSCF0394.JPG

DSCF0395.JPG

DSCF0396.JPG

DSCF0397.JPG

DSCF0399.JPG

DSCF0400.JPG

DSCF0401.JPG

DSCF0402.JPG

DSCF0403.JPG

DSCF0405.JPG

DSCF0406.JPG

DSCF0409.JPG

DSCF0410.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4: Sunny Day,  Padded 2.1 miles in Class 1 (0700-0750).   Tide info: 02:13 5.6L, 06:41 7.0H, 14:11 -1.8L, 22:18 8.0H
a. Padded from Turn Island State Park to Friday harbor.  
b. Paul took a taxi to Roche Harbor to retrieve his car.
c.  We had about one hour to burn.   For sightseeing, drove through Friday Harbor downtown, to American Camp, to Jackle's Lake,and near the Cattle Point.
d. Took 1115am Friday Harbor Ferry.  Drove.  Took 1325pm Edmond Ferry. Arrived at Paul's house at 1455.    Washed off the gears.

In overall,  it was an excellent trip for both of us.    Looking forward to another trip in the area (San Juan Islands or Canada) next year.

a-paddle day 4.jpg

DSCF0411.JPG

DSCF0413.JPG

DSCF0414.JPG

DSCF0416.JPG

DSCF0419.JPG

DSCF0420.JPG

DSCF0421.JPG

DSCF0422.JPG

DSCF0423.JPG

DSCF0427.JPG

DSCF0428.JPG

DSCF0429.JPG

DSCF0430.JPG

DSCF0431.JPG

DSCF0433.JPG

DSCF0434.JPG

DSCF0435.JPG

DSCF0436.JPG

DSCF0437.JPG

DSCF0439.JPG

DSCF0440.JPG

DSCF0441.JPG

DSCF0444.JPG

DSCF0445.JPG

DSCF0446.JPG

DSCF0447.JPG

DSCF0449.JPG

DSCF0450.JPG

Photo0279.jpg

Photo0281.jpg

Photo0282.jpg

Photo0283.jpg

Photo0284.jpg

Photo0288.jpg

 

 Isaac's Journey Home Page