New Kayaking Puget Sound Facebook Group!

I've just started a new Kayaking Puget Sound Facebook Group so you all can post trip ideas, trip reports, boat or board reviews or for sale items and any other related paddling questions.

Open to all human powered paddling craft - SUP, rowers, kayaks, canoe and prone. 

Ask to Join here..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1322209787977756/

Deception Pass

Strait of Juan de Fuca Coastal Exploring

One of my all time favorite paddles is the cliff section between Freshwater Bay and Salt Creek Recreation Area, on the Olympic Peninsula.  

20 minutes west of Port Angeles, you can access this section from either the Freshwater Bay Boat Ramp (Freshwater Bay Road) or via Salt Creek Rec Area (Crescent Beach). 

The route takes you under 300' tall rock cliffs and through protected pocket beaches each with their own personality. Whether at low or high tide there's always something to see. 

There's quite a bit of current off shore, so tuck in around the rocks when exploring, then take the outer water, about 50' out back to your car providing the current and/or wind is running in that direction.  

For sups, I recommend a waist quick release leash (on PFD) as you feet will be caught in thick kelp beds or under rocks if you fall. Quick release is a good thing if needed. 

Helmets are an option if the swell is up. Unless you're planning on rock gardening, avoid a W or NW swell over 5'.  Launching from Salt Creek, a popular surfing spot, can be tricky if you don't have surf skills. 

I can provide surf and coastal paddling training for both kayak and sup if needed. 

Available all year.  Trip #41 in the book.  

My clients exploring a cave

Humpback in Crescent Bay

Me exploring a pocket beach cliff

Rob Casey is author of Kayaking Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, 60 Trips and Stand Up Paddling Flat Water to Surf and Rivers, both by Mountaineers Books.  He owns Salmon Bay Paddle a SUP school in Seattle. 

Erratic Boulders of Puget Sound

"A glacial ‘erratic’  is a rock fragment carried by glacial ice and transported some distance from the outcrop from which it was derived, and generally resting on bedrock of a different type* [although glacial or alluvial sediment may directly underlie the erratic. " (source: NW Geology)

Many erratic boulders line the shores of Puget Sound. Some large erratics can be found in Seattle such as 4 Mile Rock off the south side of Magnolia and this one below off North Beach of Discovery Park.  Read more about erratic boulders  (source: NW Geology)

Possibly the most interesting erratic is Haleelts Rock on the north end of Bainbridge Island which has a petroglyph on it's north facing side. See pic below.

6 erratics around Puget Sound

List of of 15 erratics around King Country, WA

Haleelts Rock, Bainbridge Island

4 Mile Rock

Discovery Park erratic, North Beach

Learn more about my book Kayaking Puget Sound and the San Juans, 60 Trips. I also offer SUP and Kayak lessons available throughout the year at Salmon Bay Paddle. Questions about paddling on the Salish Sea, give me a holler anytime at salmonbaypaddle@gmail.com or 206-465-7167

Explore middle Hood Canal - Paddle Trip #23

Dosewallips St Park, high tide (empties at low).

Warm water in summer, bucolic backwater views and great paddling best describe this section of Hood Canal.  North of Hoodsport stretching to Quilcene, this curvy section of Highway 101 has many campgrounds, B&Bs, tucked away marinas, and oyster farms.

Trip #23 in the book.

Hamma Hamma river delta

Quilcene, WA

Learn more about my book Kayaking Puget Sound and the San Juans, 60 Trips. I also offer SUP and Kayak lessons available throughout the year at Salmon Bay Paddle. Questions about paddling on the Salish Sea, give me a holler anytime at salmonbaypaddle@gmail.com or 206-465-7167

Support the Washington Water Trails Association and the Cascadia Marine Trail. The wwta works to create and protect access for paddlers on Puget Sound as well as provide an extensive network of over 60 paddle-in camping sites - www.wwta.org