Sea Kayak - Hammersley Inlet

Trip Report

SIGHTED: SEAL, GREAT BLUE HERON, KINGFISHER, EAGLE, CORMORANT, RACCOON

 

 

Everybody was on time by 0800 with no problems finding the park.  We parked under the lovely old trees in the day lot on the east side of the park.  We quickly unloaded our boats and gear in the staging area.  After some discussion one paddler stayed with the boats and the rest of us ran our cars down to the Arcadia boat launch to set up the shuttle.  (Note: on hot days park on the south side under the trees if there is any room!) As usual the Honey Buckets were clean and stocked at Arcadia and the full restroom facility was so clean it smelled fresh at Walker.

 

We had brought wheels and it didn’t take long to get the boats down in place on the beach.  We then sat at a picnic table and I went over the materials in detail, showing the areas on charts.  Good questions were asked and everyone was very attentive.  We got on the water pretty much on time around 0930 into the building current.  We paused to go over peel outs at the first “hook” on the south side of the channel and everybody had several successful tries before continuing on.  It was a short distance covered almost too quickly to round the point into the cove at the mouth of Mill Creek.  We paused there and I went over how to use “the rule of thumb” to successfully nail a ferry angle across moving waters.  The current was moving at least 3 knots by this point and everybody made it successfully across to land by the marker on the opposite shore. 

 

After that it was mostly mid channel until the approach to Libby Point where we veered to the left to get into the cove to review peel outs and how to approach boils and whirlpools.  There was no wind so the water, while moving 3+ knots was not too rambunctious.  Most took turns doing peel outs and surfing the rocks until the rapidly ebbing tide prevented us from doing so.  We then moved a bit down the beach and took a bio break.  This was followed by some more calculating and paddling ferry angles to the rocky shore on the other side. 

 

By the time we got to the mouth of Hammersley we could finally feel a very slight and welcome breeze.   We then headed over to Steamboat Island to check out the reef that extends out from the northern tip of the island.  There were a few people wandering around and we chattered back and forth about the sea life at low tide.  I was delighted to see sea stars clinging to the rocks between the anemones.  They continue to make a slow comeback in our Salish Sea.

 

By this time we were definitely ready for lunch and it was about 1300 when we approached Hope Island on the south side.  The welcoming committee of hopeful raccoons were, as usual, disappointed as we never give them handouts.  But they were busy down at the water line and all over the beaches. 

 

We chose to eat at the picnic table in the camping area because although the views are more limited it was shadier there.  We took our time over lunch as the lesson part was pretty much over for the day.  I had to go back to successfully find my lost watch before we shoved off about an hour later.  We paddled over to the sunken reef but were unable to see anything; the water level was too high. 

 

Next it was back around the north side to squeeze in between Squaxin and Hope and back to the beautiful and very busy boat launch at Arcadia.  Good teamwork was applied to get the boats loaded on to our wheels and taken back to the parking lot.  (We didn’t bring our cars down as there were too many power boaters on the ramp).  Then we headed back to the much cooler cars in the still shady park to transfer boats and gear back to their usual cars.  A post trip huddle yielded smiles and thank yous all around. 

 

Betty and I opted to go eat afterwards but when we got to Tugboat Annies we found it closed because of a power outage!  We went to another café that Betty knew of and had a nice dinner there. 

 

A good class on a beautiful summer day in lovely Hammersley Inlet!  All paddlers performed very well with excellent group dynamics.

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