After visiting our Portland family, we headed north towards Washington's Olympic Peninsula. We originally had planned to hike
Mt. Ellinor and visit
Staircase Rapids near Hoodsport, but a forest fire closed the area, forcing us to change our plans. As a backup, we booked an excursion to
Hope Island State Park with
South Island Kayak Tours. We enjoyed paddling around the island, then coming ashore to explore the southern tip of the park before finishing the tour back at our starting point. What a great backup plan this turned out to be!
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Getting ready to leave Arcadia Point boat ramp . . .
Notice Mt. Rainier (14,411 ft) just above the tree line between us (Click on picture for a larger view) |
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Heading out into the Puget Sound . . .
We will paddle towards Squaxin Island (uninhabited tribal land on our left)
as we work our way around Hope Island (on our right) |
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| One of our guides, Doug, helped us get used to paddling and steering the tandem kayak |
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| We're starting to get into a rhythm! |
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Well we thought we're were getting it down!
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Making our way between Squaxin Island and the northern tip of Hope Island
(We saw a bald eagle, egg yolk jelly fish, an oyster farm, and even had a curious seal follow us for a while . . . Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out/too far away . . . guess you'll have to go see for yourself!) |
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We almost look like we know what we're doing!
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We stopped on the southern beach of Hope Island and explored this marine state park
for 45 minutes . . . it is only accessible by boat |
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| This family from Berlin, Germany were our "paddle mates" for the excursion |
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The cabin and windmill powered water well are replicas of Louis & Clara Schmidt's 1895 house . . .
They were the first full-time residents of the island . . .
Today, their cabin serves as the park ranger/caretakers accommodations |
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The Schmidt's planted an orchard that had apples and pear trees . . .
Some of these trees still remain today and visitors are allowed to pick the ripe fruit |
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Kent heading back to the kayaks . . .
The island has several trails that are open for hiking . . . most look like this one |
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| Time to leave Hope Island . . . it's been a great visit! |
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| Wouldn't you know it, just when we got our act together the tour was over! |
If you're looking for something different to do on your visit to Puget Sound, you might want to consider contacting Ross & Doug at
South Sound Kayak Tours. Their 3-hour tour includes kayaks, state park access fees and plenty of friendly banter. They did a great job and were more than reasonably priced!
