Deception Pass

Little buddy at my campsite

10/14/13

Housekeeping stuff: So, I am pretty far behind in my blog. As I write this today, I am at the Grand Canyon. I am at least 10 stops behind. I will try and post when I can, but I am more concentrated on the trip than the blog at the moment. I probably won't be caught up until Christmas time, but it will give you something to read in the Holiday craziness. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and didn't get trampled in the Black Friday madness!

Shortly after our trip to Wallace Falls, I decided I had better get back on the road. The national parks were still closed, but the state parks remained open. I went north to Deception Pass, with the idea that I would continue onto Vancouver.

It was a short drive up to the park, but I ran into problems almost immediately. First, the park required that you have a Discover Pass. This pass granted access to Washington state parks for an entire year for $30. Not a bad deal. However, they did not have a credit card machine and only had the self pay station open. Without the $30 in cash, I went to the ranger station to see if they could run my card. They couldn't, of course, but he knew where one of the self pay machines was. 10 minute trip and I had my pass in hand. Time to return to the park.

Second fumble, same story for the campsite: cash only. This time I had to find an atm. The corner store had an atm, but it was out of cash. Fear not, there was one 10 minutes up the road. Finally, I could enjoy the park...

The bridge over the pass. The park was quite calm.

I wandered around the park, taking a quick hike up to the bridge. The path took you along the beach. I remembered that I hadn't grabbed a walking stick since I set out on my journey, much to the dismay of my co-worker Mark. I decided to grab one and make my way back to the beach for sunset.

Watched the sunset while carving my new hiking stick and listening to a book. Really calming.

Not sure what caused the weird special rift in this picture. Happened in a few other shots for the park.

The next day I went further around the park. I climbed to the top of Goose Rock, then worked my way down along the coast. I stopped for about an hour to work on my walking stick; cleaning off the bark and creating a handhold. I was the only one on the trail, so it was quiet except for the birds and the wind.

On top of Goose Rock, the highest point in the park.

My trusty walking stick. Comes up to my shoulder. It has also been called my walking log/wizard staff.

The waters were calm and reflective.

The park didn't have many trials besides the ones I took, so I went to the north half of the park. There were a few more short hikes and scenic views, but not much. I ate a quick lunch while on a dock overlooking the islands.

Great view of the islands.

I felt like I had explored the area to it's fullest, and decided to head north. It was starting to get dark and I needed a place to sleep. I found Larrabee State Park on the map. It met all my requirements: state park and not national, open and not closed for the season, and relatively cheap. I arrived, set up camp, and just as I was about to start my fire I hear this loud horn. Turns out a train runs right by the park. So close that they warn campers on the edge closest to the tracks with a sign. The night was going to be fun.

I slept better than I thought, only waking up a few times that night to the train. It is a good thing I am a heavy sleeper. Overall, the campsite was nice if you could get past the train sounds. Running water, nice big camp sites, and warm showers (HUGE PLUS). I think I need to come back and give it another shot someday.

I didn't hike that day in the park. I decided it was going to be used for catching up on a few things, this blog included. I made my way to Bellingham and worked in a Starbucks the entire day. I was hoping that they would announce the national parks were going to re-open, so I could shoot over to Mt. Baker, but that didn't happen. At the end of the day, however, Max messaged me and convinced me to head back to Seattle. At this point, I didn't really feel like dealing with the border crossing or trying to find somewhere to stay for the night. So, return to Redmond I did.

Pictures of Deception Pass