Located in the heart of middle Puget Sound, Blake Island State Park is easily accessible from several put-ins. Paddlers can choose between super easy short paddling distances to much longer trips depending on their skill level or time available for a trip.
During the first weekend in September (2012), my partner Christy and I had little time to escape work thus chose the shortest paddle to the island from the Southworth ferry terminal. While it did require taking the Vashon-Southworth ferry from Seattle, the paddle to the island from Southworth was about a mile.
Other access points to Blake:
- Southworth Ferry Terminal, 1 mile.
- Vashon Island ferry terminal, 1.5 miles.
- Manchester, about 2 miles.
- Fort Ward Park on Bainbridge, approx 2-3 miles.
- Fauntelroy (West Seattle) ferry dock, approx 4 miles.
- Ballard (neighborhood in Seattle), 8 miles.
Blake can feel like it's isolated and far away from the city on one trip, while on the other you may feel like you're camping in a city park. During the trip above, it was a hot weekend so we had a regular stream of island hikers walking through or by our site and canoeists and boaters drifting by. One guy even tried to buy a cup of coffee from me for $10. I thought he was kidding but later found out he was serious! The best way to avoid crowds is to go on weekdays in summer or 'off seasons'.
Raccoons can be problematic but the State Park recently installed metal raccoon boxes to store your food which we found quite useful.
There's three campsites for paddlers on the island. The WWTA Cascadia Marine Trail site is on the NW side, the 'primitive' site on the south side (our favorite), and in Tilikum Village on the northeast side. There's a great surf break there south of the marina for freighter and wind waves. I surfed it one day for 1 hour scoring on waist high peelers.
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| 'Primitive' Site on the south side. |
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| Shot with an Oregon Scientific ATC9K. |
I got your book in August this year, and enjoyed using it during our short trip to Washington in September. We wound up renting kayaks from Tammi at Adventures through Kayaing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful book and made us wish we had much more time, and our own boats to us, Have a great fall!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWill you please post a link to your Blog at The Kayaking Community? Our members will appreciate it.
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Thanks for both comments, apologies for the delay in response!
ReplyDeletePenobscotPaddles - Glad you enjoy the book, thanks for the support as well, and that you had a great time with Tammi's outfit.
James - Will do, cheers!
Rob
where can I find paddling distances around kitsap county. Been trying to figure out how far it is to various locations from Port Orchard
ReplyDeleteRon Sea Trails marine maps are great in that they measure out common crossings for you. I did hear from a bookstore today that the company may have gone under, but their maps are still in some paddling shops. Check Captain's Nautical Supply in Seattle or online see, http://www.seatrails.com
ReplyDeleteYou can also use marine charts and use a ruler and the map's key legend to determine distances. Lastly Google Maps has a ruler that measures both nautical and statue miles.