ARTICLES ABOUT WHIDBEY ISLAND

Take a quiet drive to Deception Pass

For a nice leisurely outing, try driving to Deception Pass State Park.
Besides a relaxing drive through Skagit Valley farmland, you will be rewarded with a lack of crowds at this time of year.
Most people think only of Deception Pass Bridge and the portion of the park with Cranberry Lake and the campground. But there’s much more to the park.
The park is made up of 2,474 acres, with 77,000 feet of shoreline on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. It takes in six entire islands, parts of Whidbey and Fidalgo islands, and two lakes.
Which means Pass Lake (on Fidalgo Island) is within the park’s boundaries, as are Bowman Bay and Rosario Beach.
Pass Lake is famous for its year-round fly fishing.
Rosario Beach and Bowman Bay offer picnic spots and a chance to stretch your legs while taking in some beautiful views. The bay offers anchorage for boats and a few buoys. Sharpe Cove, to the north of the bay behind Rosario Head, is where the small dock is located.
From Bowman Bay you can hike along Sharpe Cove to Reservation Head or to Rosario Beach. The beach offers an underwater park for divers and excellent rocky tide pools for those who don’t wish to submerge in pursuit of sea life.
The undisputed favorite landmark in Deception Pass State Park is Deception Pass Bridge, which is actually made up of two bridges.
There is ample parking just before reaching Deception Pass Bridge and just after crossing it. If you venture out onto the bridges, you will be rewarded with fantastic views. Cross the road from the parking area on the Whidbey Island side and take the short hike up Goose Rock. From the top you have views of Cornet Bay and the straits.
A little farther onto Whidbey is Deception Pass State Park, which offers many recreational opportunities — camping, fishing, picnics and walks on the beach. There are 230 campsites and a boat ramp to Cranberry Lake.
On North Beach at low tide you can walk the beach from West Point to Deception Pass Bridge.
Walking the paved trails between Cranberry Lake and the straits will take you through an area with sand dunes. There are several picnic areas along the way.
If you plan to use the lakes, remember that no gas motors are allowed.

A little history behind the Deception Pass area

In the spring of 1792, Joseph Whidbey, master of the HMS Discovery and Capt. George Vancouver’s chief navigator, sailed through the narrow passage now called Deception Pass.
The group proved it was not really a small bay, as charted by the Spaniards, but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Saratoga Passage, which separates the mainland from Whidbey and Fidalgo islands — what they believed was a peninsula.
Until the construction of Deception Pass Bridge in 1935, travelers used an unscheduled ferry to cross from Fidalgo Island to Whidbey. To call the ferry, they banged on a saw with a mallet and then sat back to wait.
A favorite landmark in Deception Pass State Park is the Deception Pass Bridge, which is actually made up of two bridges.
The two 182-foot-high bridges were dedicated July 31, 1935. Deception Pass Bridge spans from Whidbey to Pass Island. The channel is about 500 feet wide.
Canoe Pass Bridge links Pass Island with Fidalgo. Canoe Pass is about 50 feet wide at the narrow point of the channel.
In September 1982 the bridge was declared a National Historic Monument. It cost more to paint the spans in 1997 than it did to build the bridge. The cost of construction in 1934-35 was $482,000.

Fort Casey favorite spot for kite fliers

On a clear day you can see forever from Admiralty Head light

Fort Casey State Park is located on the west side of Whidbey Island, south of Coupeville, next to the Keystone ferry terminal. The park offers visitors a wide variety of interesting sights and things to do.
The former parade ground is popular with kite fliers, and below the fort there are 35 campsites complete with RV hookups, a boat ramp and a huge campus owned by Seattle Pacific University with barracks and spacious soccer fields that are available to church and school groups throughout the summer months.
Sitting atop a bluff overlooking Admiralty Inlet are the gun emplacements of Fort Casey. Across the inlet, Fort Flagler, Fort Warden and the city of Port Townsend can be seen. Fort Casey was among several artillery posts established in the late 1890s, including the heavy batteries of Fort Warden and Fort Flagler located on Marrowstone Island.
The three forts formed the Triangle of Fire as they protected prime targets such as the Bremerton Naval Shipyards, Olympia, Tacoma, Everett and Seattle from enemy fleets that could have entered Puget Sound.
The main fire power at Fort Casey was seven 10-inch disappearing carriage guns capable of lobbing a 571-pound projectile eight miles. After firing, the guns were withdrawn below concrete emplacements, making them invisible and protecting the crew while reloading.
Although the guns were never fired in anger, the post remained an integral part of coastal defense. After World War I, the fort was placed on what amounted to caretaker status in 1921. In common with other emplacements along the coast, the guns were scrapped and sold for their metal content in 1942.
The two guns still displayed at the fort were obtained from Fort Wint in the Republic of the Philippines in 1968 through the efforts of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy.
The fort was abandoned by the U.S. Army in 1950 and it became a state park soon afterward.
A short walk from the gun emplacements is Admiralty Head lighthouse. Visitors are allowed access to the lighthouse tower during park hours.
To get there, take Highway 20 west to the Deception Pass exit and continue to Coupeville. Turn right at the school pedestrian overpass and head west to the park.