Deception Pass is a really ominous title, isn't it? Not to worry - it's a real place not a state of mind. A little geography/history lesson to start. In 1792 George Vancouver, a British sea captain/explorer sailed into this area and promptly started exploring and naming mountains, bays, islands and pretty much anything he could chart. He gave names to 75 geographical places overriding Spanish names which were already in common usage. Of course, this was the third time around for the naming. Those pesky Indians already had names for everything. Then the Spanish sailed up from California and they re-named everything. However, it's Vancouver's names which have mostly survived and appear on the maps although the Indians got to keep minor rivers - like the Snohomish, for instance. Most of Vancouver's names came from his crew. Puget Sound - after his young lieutenant Peter Puget. If you had any rank at all in the crew of Discovery (the name of Vancouver's ship), you got something named for you - including the beloved Mount Baker, named for Vancouver's third lieutenant. (Mount Baker is the snow covered mountain that the Skagit County crowd is so proud of - and with reason, it's a beautiful mountain.) Plus, Vancouver did a little brown nosing - Mount Hood is named for one of his superiors.
One of the missions that Vancouver wanted to fulfill, and thus cement his place in history, was to find a waterway passage big enough for ships which could be sailed eastward into the land mass. Since trade (and thus wealth) traveled via water during this time period, this was a major objective of any exploratory voyage. Now we're back to Deception Pass. Think of an hourglass with bulbous portions of the glass being bays and the restricted neck being a passage between the two bays. Initially, Vancouver was certain he had found that inward passage, but he was DECEIVED, and what initially looked so promising turned out to be a narrow neck between two large bays - thus the name of the pass: Deception Pass. The pass is really quite impressive, and it was easy to see why Vancouver felt tricked.
Until the 1930's you had to use a ferry to travel between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island - the two islands the pass dissects. These are two islands that are part of a scattered island barrier chain along the Washington coast. Then the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) arrived and built a bridge as well as a park. Parts of their work is still visible. You can walk across this bridge - along with the 16,000 cars that traverse it daily. There's a pedestrian walkway on both sides, and you access the 'other' side by traipsing down 3 flights of stairs , crossing underneath this massive bridge, and walking up 3 flights of stairs on the other side - it's quite a sight.
We hiked the coastline across from the bridge up and down the little hills and along the coastline. We saw the bridge from across the bay, and when we went onto the bridge, we saw the hiking trails we had just came from as we stood on the bridge. This was a terrific hike for me - not too much elevation change, but heavily forested with breakout views of the shoreline and bays. The 50's temperatures are perfect for hiking. We've had a surprising number of non-rainy days. There's been lots and lots of sunshine which I didn't expect at this time of the year. We completed our day with a meal at the Fidalgo Drive-In which specializes in seafood sandwiches and root beer floats. Yum.
We also had another experience here at the Skagit Wildlife Refuge - think bird sanctuary - specifically for migrating birds. We discovered a flock of about 10,000 snow geese resting in the sanctuary. Now, they do allow hunting in parts of the sanctuary, and there is a constructed series of dikes that hunters with dogs can stand on and shoot birds - like ducks and geese. The hunters aren't allowed off the dikes, but they send their dogs out into the marsh to retrieve the birds they have shot. You can also hike the dikes -- but it's recommended that you wear extremely bright clothing, so you don't get SHOT. I find it interesting that the snow geese were only located in the parts of the Refuge where there was no hunting. Who says birds can't learn? It was an amazing sight - the fields were bright green and the birds mostly snow white. It was also pretty funny that directly across the road from the Refuge was a farm that was raising free range turkeys and chickens. This is one of those deals where the picture is worth a thousand words.
We've also been biking. I love the rails to trails bike paths. I don't have to ride along a street, believe me, I'm risking my life to do that. These r/t bike paths follow old rail lines and usually cut through fields or woods or follow ridge lines. That means the scenery is great. Plus, since the paths are usually paved, the ride is smooth, and we are going to conceivably be able to ride in the rain. We'll see. We've found one within about a 30 minute drive of the house that is 23 miles long.
Our time here is winding down. I'm surprised how much I'm going to hate leaving here. I still think we haven't scratched the surface here of everything there is to do. One thing I'm definitely doing before we leave is to head into Seattle to see the 150 original artworks by Picasso. We will leave here on November 30th and have a leisurely drive down the northwestern coast sightseeing, biking and hiking as we go. We are starting to plan our itinerary. We will be in Arizona around the 15th of December. I will send out an address that you can use for all those wonderful xmas cards you will be sending me. Getting mine done may be a little problematic, but I'm sure I'll rise to the occasion.
