Sail-In Hikes in Puget Sound?

[Jeff B.]

Hi PNW'ers,

My girlfriend and I are planning a sailing trip up to Port Townsend later this summer for the jazz/blues festivals, and we're also interested in doing some daylong/multi-night hiking. I would love to combine these into a single long trip, but am not interested in renting a car to get someplace. Have any of you out there heard of or experienced any sail-in hikes in the Puget Sound that you could recommend?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Jack Tar]

San Juan Islands afoot and afloat. Tons of hikes, rental bikes, mopeds ans so forth. From Friday Harbor go to the winery or many other roadside places. Reid Habor same deal. English Camp similar. Orcas Island hike to the top of the mountain and climb the lookout. But the best of all is Stewart Island. Hike out to Turn Point and gaze over to Canada. Almost all of the islands have beaches and trails.

http://www.amazon.com/San-Juan-Isla...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242087280&sr=1-1

 

[Jack Tar]

http://www.amazon.com/San-Juan-Isla...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242087280&sr=1-1

 

[Guest]

PNW hikes

Hi Jeff, Cypress Island has two very nice hikes from Pelican Beach on the NE side of the Island. Duck lake and Eagle Cliff are both about a mile each and offer well groomed trails through heavily timbered country.

The three anchorages, Pelican Beach, Eagle Cove and Cypress Head have several Department of Natural Resources mooring balls with dinghy shore access to camp sites and dry toilets. Most of the trails were once logging roads used to harvest timber from the island long ago.

Terry Cox

 

[John Nantz]

Eelgrass and Kelp Beds in Port Townsend Anchoring

Jeff - a heads-up with regard to anchoring out in Port Townsend. They're trying to protect the eelgrass and kelp beds there so there are certain things they'd like everybody to know about dropping the hook there.

Reference: http://www.jcmrc.org/2projects/2eelgrass.html
also:
(good map): http://www.portofpt.com/EelGrass.pdf

http://www.engr.washington.edu/epp/psgb/2005psgb/proceedings/papers/B9_PEARS.pdf

And if you think about it, there are similar situations elsewhere in the
Sound and up north.

The article mentions about the sometimes poor holding in the kelp beds and that's really true. Because the area is popular for anchoring the boats tend to anchor with relatively short scope. With the short scope and kelp problem I've seen several boats drag anchor there in the high winds and strong tide.

After you have a good experience there and tell others about it, it would be good to try and pass the word and mention about anchoring, too.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jeff B.]

Thanks for all the advice. John, thank you especially for the heads-up regarding eelgrass in Port Townsend - we'll be among the volunteers. Looks like it's time to go book shopping!