Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board

Cypress Island, San Juan Islands

Posted By: Shawn Baker
Date: Friday, 30 July 1999, at 3:53 p.m.

Woke up at the crack of 6:30 and went out to the pickup to organize my array of toys & gear. I ate breakfast and Sue drove Larry and I to Anacortes to start our trip. It took me about 45 minutes before we left and 45 minutes after we left to get everything organized; at 10:15 we pushed off.

We paddled 1.25 miles to the southeast point of Guemes Island, and then paddled along the northeast shore. Guemes is a nice low island with a lot of cabins along the shore. I saw about 25 cormorants covering the face of a large cliff-I'd never seen cormorants before-they really look funny with their long necks, short legs, and their wings far back on their bodies. We stopped at the little state park on the north end of the island to pee, stretch, and snack.

We then did a 3-mile crossing of Bellingham Channel north of Cone Island. The tide was flooding and flowing north through the channel, and there were 2-3' wind waves and even bigger boat wakes to contend with, but it was a nice strenuous paddle to complete the day. Some of the boat wakes combined with wind waves were as much as 5' tall, but it was sunny and warm out, and they weren't continuous, so it was easy enough to recover and relax between sets.

We arrived at Pelican Beach at 1:00 and just lay around on the gravel beach in the sun. We ate some lunch and set up the tent, and I wrote in my journal and lazed in the sun some more. Once the sun set over the island, it got a bit cooler on the beach, so we cooked dinner and got ready to hike up to Eagle Cliff. Eagle Cliff is a big basalt bluff that drops off over the Rosario Strait with a killer view of Orcas and the smaller islands to the west. I forgot my camera about halfway up, and hiked back to camp and then up to the cliff. I napped for about an hour until a tour group showed up. I was laying on a rock outcrop about 10' back from the face of the cliff and they came and sat right next to me! I was a bit perturbed that they had to practically sit in my lap and visit noisily, but I don't own the island any more than they do, so I didn't show it. They took off and left Larry and I and the two guys who camped up the beach from us to watch the sun set over Orcas. It wasn't the most spectacular sunset I've ever seen, but the combination of a strenuous paddle, a good steep hike, and the view of the islands makes it one of the most memorable ones.

We hiked back down and visited with the two guys at the next campsite-they were baking cranberry muffins! We couldn't wait for them to finish baking, though, as it was already close to 11:00, so we went to bed.

Est distance: 9.5 miles

And, to answer Andy Gere's question about day trips in the San Juans: Cypress would make an excellent day trip from the Guemes Island Ferry launch in Anacortes, paddle up to Cypress Head, and back to the ferry launch. Alternately, a circumnavigation of Cypress could be stretched into a great overnight or 3-day trip. There are campsites at Pelican Beach, Cypress Head, and Strawberry Island (SW corner of Cypress).

Shawn

The page (with photos) at the following link will be posted in a couple of days.

Cypress Island

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