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.

Then, like all great chuckwagon recipes, you start with bacon.

Garlic, onions, peppers, broccoli, carrots, chicken (pre-grilled), and mushrooms are added in that order.

Be sure to have some friends around to pass the time with while the concoction stews.

Stir it every once-in-a-while so the stuff on bottom doesn't burn.

Recruit a friend to document the process. This guy will do...

Add some mystery sauce from an unlabeled can.

Arrange pop-n-bake biscuits over the whole mess. Put some coals on the lid and ignore it for 45 minutes.

Behold... golden deliciousness...

MrG digs in.

Gather around the table, pour yourself a beverage, and enjoy being in the outdoors with friends and family. Cheers.

Slough Canoe

For a variety of reasons today was a perfect candidate for a morning canoe trip. We car-topped the Wenonah to Enatai Beach Park in Bellevue. The beach launch and paddle along the shore of Lake Washington to the entrance to the Mercer Slough went quickly. Paddling under I-90 was a little disconcerting because there was an oily sheen on the water and a chemical smell in the air, but once the freeway was behind us the smell and sheen were too.

The views were mostly of our immediate surroundings but we did get a peek-a-boo view of Mt Rainier and saw the Bellevue skyline contrasted against the natural foreground. The Bellevue skyline isn't really that impressive as far a urban skylines go but it seemed sort of ominous above the lily pads and dense riparian trees.

Another paddler told us about a pair of river otters "just around the bend on the left bank" but we never saw them. In addition to the many birds we saw (herons, geese, ducks, red-tailed hawk, red-wing blackbirds, and a lot more we couldn't identify), we saw a lot of turtles sunning themselves on logs.

One of the things that fascinated me most about the Mercer Slough is the varied water conditions. In some places it's muddy brown, in other places it's tea colored, and there are even a few spots where it's relatively clear. The vegetation in the water was equally varied. Some places the channel was wide open. In other places it was choked with lily pads, and in some places there was a lot of slimy-mossy-leafy type vegetation. It all added up to a general atmosphere of "don't fall out of the boat"

There's a hiking trail that explores the wetland around the slough. A family that was hanging out near the water was gracious enough to snap a pick of us in our trusty craft.And if you really want to know what it was like to be there... here's a 40-second snippet that captures the true excitement of flat-water family canoeing.

Suiattle Kidspedition 2011

Last year's bike camping trip up the closed-to-motor-vehicles Suiattle River Road was such a spectacular time that we did it again this year. We invited a few new friends to come along but in the end only one new family was able to come and even they had to leave one of theirs at home. We were 5 adults and 6 children strong. Everyone had some sort of bike to ride.

We had initially planned to head out first thing Friday morning but we delayed until the afternoon to wait for some rain squalls to blow through. We got nailed by a couple intense rain cells on the 2-hour drive to the trail head but somehow we lucked out and the precipitation stopped in time for us to ride the 3-ish miles to the campground and get things set up.

When more than half your crew is under age 5 there are many reasons and opportunities to stop and take a break.

The kids went back and forth between riding their own bikes and getting rides on one of the cargo bikes or the trailer. Everyone rode at least part of the way under their own power.

We planned this as a 3-day/2-night trip because a trip always seems so much longer if you have a full day to explore and enjoy the surroundings. We took that middle-day to ride further up the road to the sand bar at the Downey Creek/Suiattle River confluence. I think everyone liked the freedom of not hauling 3-families worth of camping gear and food.

We took a side trip to a meadow and were cautiously greeted by 2 deer grazing in a field of daisies.

Once the deer had retreated, The little kids got down to some serious balance biking.

In the middle of the meadow is a structure. It looks like some sort of barn. Ma 'n Pa Egg posed in front of it for this picture. There's another building on the edge of the meadow; it's small and looks like a one-room cabin but I didn't get a picture of it.

After a brief while exploring the meadow and enjoying it's beauty, we mobilized our pedal convoy and got back on the road. We were happy to get to the bridge over Downey Creek because that meant we were within a couple hundred feet of our destination... the sandbar at the Downey/Suiattle confluence.

This bridge is the choke point of the road. Everything leading up to the Downey Creek Bridge is wide enough for a car to pass. The bridge is easily wide enough for a cargo bike or bike trailer but there's no way even a super small car like a mini (the old ones that were freaky small) or a Smart Car could drive across. I'm not sure how this will play into the plans/movement to re-open the road to motors. Maybe there are plans to replace it with an auto friendly bridge or maybe this will be the new end of the road. Time will tell.

Before we made the 50-or-so foot decent down the embankment to the sand bar we had lunch and used the outhouse at the Downey Creek Campground. We found a plank to use as a ground-level picnic table.

Some kids rode their bikes around the campground while waiting for others to finish eating. Young T is well on his way to giving Evil Knievel a run for his money.

When everyone was ready, we headed down to the beach for some diggin' and splashin'.

Someone caught a frog...

...and our casual weekend-in-the-woods was suddenly a scientific expedition.

An hour or 2 on the beach had everyone sufficiently wet and sandy, so we gathered for the only group picture of the trip.

The kids didn't ride as much the 6-miles back to camp so it went relatively quick.

Unfortunately the HawkFam had other obligations the rest of the weekend and had to leave early. The following morning we woke to blue skies. Once the sun got above the ridge we even had warmth and sunshine. On the previous day's ride we had noticed this road closed sign on an overgrown spur road and wondered what was down that green tunnel of a road.

It was only a mile from our camp so we decided to ride up and check it out. Turns out it's the road to the Suiattle Guard Station. This cabin (the guard station) used to be available as a weekend rental but with the road closure it's boarded up and no longer available to rent.

Not sure I'd want to camp here because it was more buggy than the campground, road, or beach, but it was a pleasant place for the kids to explore and to have a picnic lunch in the tall grass.

After we'd had enough of the bugs at the guard station, we returned to our campsite to begin breaking down our camp. We didn't leave without playing in the river a bit though. The ride out was relatively uneventful until we met a guy who's living up there for the summer in a lean-to type structure he built down by the river. His story was that he's escaping the Louisiana heat for the summer. Our encounter with him was pleasant and entertaining enough. He saw us ride by and chased us down because he hadn't had any human contact for a while and just wanted to talk. But it was a reminder that you never know who's hanging around near roads in the woods.

For other versions of what really happened click here or here.