Beauty of Northwest Wilderness: Trip to Whidbey Island

Whidbey island

Whidbey island is about 30 miles north west of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor, Washington. There are a couple of towns on the island, including Clinton, Freeland, Langley, Greenbank, Coupeville, and Oak Harbor.

There are ferries between Mukilteo and Clinton. Each run about 30 minutes. You can take the ferry with your car. And then you can drive all the way up on hwy 20 to north, cross the Deception Pass bridge, and then turn right to I-5 back to Seattle.

Whidbey Island and the towns, , 09/03/2017

The Trip

I started the trip from Mukilteo, taking the ferry and stayed on a few historical spot and enjoyed the hot Labor day long weekend. Here is the route I took on this trip, total about 200 miles.

Trip to Whidbey Islands, , 09/03/2017

Ferry running from Whidbey Island to Mukilteo, 09/03/2017

Ferry leaving Clinton ferry station, 09/03/2017

Double Bluff Beach Park

The first stop is Double Bluff beach park. It's a small beach, but shared with local community. Lots of resident houses stay along the beach, where each owner owns a slice of private beach. It's a beautiful place to live, enjoying the sunshine every day, and having Mt Rainier in the view.

Double Bluff Beach Park, 09/03/2017

Whidbey Island State Park

The park is very close to Hwy 525, there are lots of RV camping ground, and a few trails. However, the beach was washed out, so the camping ground is closed. My wife and I took the beach trail. It's just 0.6 mile. We were just very careful to cross the washout area, but the trail is narrowly accessible.

I arrived the beach, and took few pictures around the area. A guy was just leisurely fishing. He told me if he were lucky, he would be able to catch about 10 lb weight of salmons. Good luck to him!

Puget Sound viewed from Whidbey island state park, 09/03/2017

South view from Whidbey island state park, 09/03/2017

The bluff on the right side of the park, 09/03/2017

Coupville

Coupeville is a historic district is within the federal Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. The reserve was established by Congress in 1978, as the first and now one of the largest National Historical Reserves in the nation.[8] Its 22 square miles (57 km2) also encompass farmlands, Fort Ebey State Park, Fort Casey State Park, shorelines and beaches, parks, trails, and 91 buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupeville,_Washington]

It's a quiet farming community in the heart of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve on Whidbey Island. Here you can enjoy the character of a frontier seaport when Puget Sound was being settled - history, nature and art.

Sail boat stayed near Coupville waterfront, 09/03/2017

Kayaking on front of the Coupville waterfront, 09/03/2017

Deception Pass State Park

Deception Pass is Washington’s most-visited state park. It has mysterious coves, rugged cliffs, jaw-dropping sunsets and a stomach-dropping high bridge. The steel bridge connects Oak harbor island on the south and Fidalgo island on the north. It's one of the busiest bridge in Washington state.

I plan to explore this area extensively in the future for the photography trips. Here is one snapshot from the north west side of the bridge,

Mt Erie overlook

The foothill of Mt Erie is a very popular RV camping site. Three ago we started the Seattle Scramble field trip from there. The south side of the mountain is a very good candidate places for scrambling and climbing. However you can drive up to the top for just half a mile from the north side.

So my wife and I decided to drive up to the top to have the overall view of Whidbay island and San Juan island.