Seattle Smitty: The Canoe Of Deception

We made our annual multi-family sojourn into the wilds of America this past weekend. Up until this year we've always gone someplace new, but last year we were so impressed with Deception Pass State Park that we decided to go there again. Deception Pass is Washington's busiest state park, so we made our reservation in February to camp at the end of July. Even though the place was packed there's plenty of forest around to make it seem small and reasonably private.

For a change of scenery we decided to take the Ferry to Whidbey Island and drive up the island rather than drive up I-5. The driving mileage is shorter but when you factor in waiting for the ferry and the lower speed limit on the island, it's not the fast way. That was fine with us though because we got a relatively early start and didn't need to be there by any particular time.

The Rs met us there that afternoon. Things were pretty low key. We got camp set up, while the kids explored forest and trails around the campsite. It's so much fun to watch the kids explore. I recognize that there's only 20ft of woods between us and the next camp site, but the kids run around like they're deep in the wild forest.

With enough imagination a toy boat or sandcastle mold can be a stylish hat.

And no matter where you are a toy car can always crash into another toy car.

As evening approached we got a fire going and the Rs cooked some hobo packets on the grate over the fire ring while I made sure the chairs stayed put.

Mini hobo packets for the kids and full size hobo packets for the adults. They were delicious.

Morning came. It was a bit overcast so we got a fire going to warm our bones. The kids enjoyed their sugary cereal by the flames.

Little girl Smitty took the camera around and got a few shots from her perspective. This one of the reflections in the stainless steel cook pot struck me as particularly interesting.

The Gs showed up after breakfast. Just in time for the overcast skies to burn off and the day to warm up. We went to the beach for the late morning.

The State Park has a freshwater lake with a sandy beach and kid friendly swim area as well as several miles of Puget Sound shoreline with more rocky beaches. It's nice to have the choice.

After some beach time the kids that nap and their parents went back to camp for a siesta. I convinced Mrs. Smitty that we should launch the canoe in the "surf" (1-1.5 ft face wind waves) and paddle out to explore a small rocky island not too far off shore. She hesitantly went along. One thing led to another and we ended up swamping the canoe before we even got it launched. We got everyone and all our stuff back on the beach OK but the kids were hysterical, our stuff was soaked, and I was smart enough to not suggest we try launching again. I later went to explore the little island by myself.

The main reason I brought the canoe was to paddle around Pass Island, which means paddling through Deception and Canoe Passes. It didn't take much convincing to get MrG to sign on as first mate. The current in the passes can get treacherous so we timmed our journey around slack tide (the brief moment when the tide changes between rising and falling). We set out from a rocky cove paddling toward Deception Pass. Deception Pass on right, Canoe Pass on left, Pass Island in between. MrG wearing white hat.

Our timing was perfect to get through Deception Pass. The water was calm and not flowing. In the few minutes it took us to get to the end of Pass Island the tide was starting to flow. There was a small area at the point of the island that had a few small standing waves and whirlpools but we paddled through it pretty easily. We rounded the island and started to make our return trip through Canoe Pass.

Slack water was definitely over by this time and the tide was noticeably flowing. Fortunately we chose a window that the tide would be in our favor. We barely needed to paddle to keep the boat moving toward Canoe Pass. As the channel narrowed we were able to just go with the flow and enjoy the scenery. The current whisked us through the pass and was sending us toward some small but growing standing waves with white caps.

We were able to paddle out of the flow into calm water behind Pass Island and watch 2 kayakers come through the pass behind us. They were a bit more bold about confronting the rough water. We sat in our protected spot for a few minutes and watched the waves and turbulence build. We decided to get out of there before the seas got too intense.

Back at the campsite it was time to get to work on dinner. I'm relatively new to the world of dutch oven cooking but this seemed like as good an opportunity as any to get some practice. First step was to get some coals hot in the fire. Then move some coals out of the fire to get the dutch oven hot.