Deception Pass State Park, day 3 afternoon

October, 2017

More Deception Pass and let’s count the rings!

First off … I am pleased to report that, as of February 12, 2017, total views of this blog exceeded 10,000 views!  Wow!  Considering that the first blog post was published on November 11, 2016, only three months before February 12, I’m overwhelmed by this.  That first November blog post had a whopping 16 views, probably all from my Facebook friends. 🙂  Just three months later there have now been more than 10,000 views!  I had no idea so many people would find my blog, much less find it to be something they wanted to read consistently.  There are now consistently more than 100/day!  Thank you!  Every one of you, thank you!

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And that brings me also to your comments.  Thank you!  I love your comments.  There are the “regulars” who comment often and remind me that all of you really are out there (thank you!).  And there are the occasional commenters who pop up every now and then with an on-target comment about something in the post … or you ask a question … or you add information that I didn’t have … or you pull my leg a bit … or you chat with each other. 🙂  I always love your comments.

So … more comments please.  I love them.  I’m certain a good portion of you readers are RVers too (or were at some point in your lives) or you like to travel too but not in an RV.  Please add your experiences here.  I have lots to learn, I always appreciate thoughts of new places to go camping, and I bet others reading these posts would love to hear your stories too.  Don’t be shy about commenting, and please do share this blog with anyone who might enjoy it.  Let’s travel the road together.

Enough of that Ann, take us back to Deception Pass!

Ok, ok, let’s go back to Deception Pass for a different look at it and then we’ll have our “count the rings” competition.  Prizes will be awarded!

After my morning’s visit to the beach that had the kayakers and paddle board folks, I walked back to my campsite and my trailer for lunch.  After lunch I jumped in the big white truck and drove to a parking lot that’s near a different beach … a beach that is much closer to the Deception Pass Bridge.  I’m still inside the State Park for all of this.  This is one huge State Park!

 

I parked and headed out on a trail through the woods with some peek-a-boo views of the bridge.  But mostly the trail was in the woods while it meandered around and headed down hill to the beach.

 

 

Finally down on the level of the beach, I found this picturesque picnic shelter in the woods just a few yards from the beach.

 

The beach was small compared to the one we saw earlier this morning and this one had no sand on it, just these millions and billions of Puget Sound saltwater-tumbled stones.  There wasn’t a sharp edge on any rock on this beach, and some of the stones were nicely polished.  Who needs a rock tumbler at home when Deception Pass does the work for you?

 

And the view from that beach?  Exactly what I was hoping for!  Above … I had a direct view of what can be the wildest part of Deception Pass.  Just a few yards from where I was standing on this beach was the narrowest part of Deception Pass.  When it gets wild, this is where it gets wild.

I took the video below to show the current during my visit.

Slack (no current) was at 11:18 am this morning.  Right after that, the outbound (towards the ocean), westerly, ebbing current started around 11:19 am.  Those two paddle-boarders this morning had reached the area just outside the core of the Pass around 11:40am … too late to buck the current on their paddle boards and try to get inbound in through the Pass with the current against them, so they turned back.

The current keeps building and getting faster until a few hours later when the maximum speed is attained.  Today’s maximum outbound, ebbing current happened at about 2 pm this afternoon with the water moving at about 5.5 knots or 6.3 mph.  The video below was taken at 2:45 pm, so the current was a tad less than when at max, but it sure was still running.  You’ll see how fast and smooth the water is over on the far side near Pass Island, but you can also see a small amount of turbulence closer to where I was standing on the Whidbey side.

This was a smooth-water day!  Even so, you wouldn’t want to be running your boat against the direction of the current.  And you sure wouldn’t want steering or engine problems in the middle of the Pass even running with the current.  Truth-be-told, you really don’t want to be in there when the current is running.  I was here on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and not one boat went through the Pass during the hour or so that I spent on this beach.  The locals know when to wait.

I then hiked back up the hill to a camping area just off the parking lot and took some photos there.  It was so peaceful.  This is an old State Park, and this particular area of the Park was an old part of this old State Park, with a old campground (still cared for and still in use) that never has had electricity or water added to the sites.  It was completely empty of campers this late in the year.

 

The campsite above was a very nice, private, level campsite that had a path out the back corner of it to an open area that looked right out over Deception Pass … far enough from the bridge not to have any road noise, but close enough to watch the boat traffic and to watch the current.  I recorded the number of this campsite for future reference.  Notice the little white mushrooms in between the rocks in the photo above.

They were everywhere.  What are they?  Someone help me here.  They were so pretty.  I think someone should design an ice cream cone where the ice cream looks like this.

 

And then a bit further I found this (below) … this is our “ring counting” competition!

The log was a LOT larger than it looks in the photo.  I wish I had measured it.  Maybe someone who knows trees can estimate the diameter based on the number of rings.

Here’s a closer look (below) of the rings.  Ok, everyone gets one guess (scientifically formed and unreservedly precise, I’m sure).  How many rings?  How old is this tree?

 

 

A hike back to the truck, and then a drive back to my campsite concluded my outing.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the two newer campgrounds in this State Park, writing down the numbers of the campsites that I would be happy to return to.  Deception Pass State Park campsites all close as of November 1 each year.  Since it was October 28 now, the campsites were mostly empty.  But still there were a good number of RVers there and I managed to spend a good portion of my walk chatting with other camping folks.  Camping folk are such nice folk.  🙂

Ok, what’s your ring count?  Closest one wins the prize!