Whidbey, Fidalgo & Lopez Islands
Our travel took place on the ancestral lands of the Halalt, Penelakut, T’suubaa-asatx, and Lyackson (Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group), Samish, Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ), S’Klallam, Semiahmoo, Tulalip, Suquamish, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples who have stewarded those lands since time immemorial.
Something really incredible happens when you find people that know how to listen, feel, and work as a team with an attitude of abundance. Every time I am able to get even a few of my wonderful shrimpies together it is usually nourishing and uplifting physically, spiritually, and emotionally. This trip to Whidbey, Fidalgo and Lopez Islands was no different!
We decided to utilize a long weekend to spend time biking in the beautiful weather, singing and cooking for one another. We left early Saturday morning from Seattle and met at a grocery store in Oak Harbor, leaving the cars behind.
We took a more scenic, and less-trafficked route through country roads on the eastern part of Whidbey Island. It winds north and meets back up with highway 20 less than a mile from Deception Pass State Park. The park has four hiker biker sites, tucked into some woods in the center of the Cranberry Lake Campground. You have to hike a very short dirt trail, but they are all pretty great and have fire rings and picnic tables. The entrance to the campground has a small store with ice cream, souvenirs, and firewood; and a really cute coffee cart is there seasonally as well!
We got to Deception Pass State Park in the early afternoon, which meant we got to hang out on the beach for a few hours, until we got too hungry for snack foods and needed a real dinner. We had a very rousing rock contest where I won most artistic rock. If you are not familiar with the joys of rock contests, it’s when you gather rocks and then a designated judge (preferably the person who is the most blazed/high/scooby-dooed) makes up creative categories and judges the submissions based on criteria they determine on the spot. It’s very silly and the perfect beach activity.
Dumpling is an insanely incredible cook, and when she has the opportunity to cook for a big group she really goes all out. She had taken on Saturday dinner and made an insane mezze with five or six dishes, dips and spreads, along with a charcuterie board. Most of the dishes were from Ottolenghi cookbooks and now I am so inspired to get the cookbooks and make some of these things on my own.
Once we were full of Mediterranean goodness we made a fire and played more goofy games before rolling ourselves up in our tents. This was my first excursion with a sleeping quilt, and while I appreciated how lightweight and compact it is, my particular quilt was a little too lightweight for Memorial Day. I imagine that later in the season it will be perfect!
After leaving Deception Pass, we made the great climb up Rosario Road into Anacortes. This is probably the most challenging part of this route since it’s almost 10 miles to Anacortes, and pretty much all uphill, with not a lot of great spots to pull of, and no stores or anything to refill water or get snacks. However, it’s pretty lightly trafficked and if you are doing an out-and-back route it’s super fun to go down! We stopped for brunch in Anacortes, but it wasn’t very remarkable and didn’t have a full bar so I am not going to recommend it.
We picked up some goodies for dinner, and then ferried to Lopez Island. Spencer Spit State Park is fairly close to the ferry terminal (about 4 fairly-flat miles), so we were set up with camp by early afternoon. With all the camping gear off our bikes, we rode to the south end of Lopez to Iceberg Point National Monument. You’re not allowed to ride your bikes on the access road (private property) or within the monument, and there’s a bike rack at the entry. Smart people would have brought a lock, we didn’t know so we walked our bikes to the entrance of the monument and walked from there.
I was skeptical about adding a 15-mile day trip, especially when we accidentally had to ride on hilly gravel roads, and I had made the poor choice to drink a tallboy of cider before we left. However, it was definitely worth the trip. Iceberg Point is a conservation area for a number of endangered plant species, and offers a spectacular panorama of the Olympic range. I was blown away that we were the only group out there, but it afforded us the privacy to do an impromptu nude photo shoot which was a ton of fun.
The way that this group said ‘yes, and…’ to so many things on this trip was truly impressive. We also have a long history of communicating our needs with one another which lends itself to a deep trust in what we do and how we do it. I feel so lucky to be able to ride with this crew and to be my full self in their presence.