Sea Kayaking Student Paddle - Hammersley Inlet

Trip Report

SIGHTED: DEER, FOX, RACCOON, SEALS, EAGLE, BROWN HEADED MERGANSER, COOT, PIGEON GUILLEMOT, KINGFISHER, CORMORANT, GREAT BLUE HERON, CANADA GOOSE

 

Almost everybody had arrived at Walker Park by the time I got there at 0800.  The park ranger told me that we were fine to park in the day lot as he wanted the all day lot left open to accommodate a large party that was due later. One of our participants had left a VM and texted that she would not be coming.  Everybody had elected to go the round trip and the weather was promising so no shuttle was required at the Arcadia boat launch.

 

We all had wheels and needed them to get down to the beach.  A couple of guys showed up right after us with fishing rods and a huge cooler.  We unloaded everything and got set up before sitting down at a nearby picnic table to go over our charts and have our discussion section of the class.  Mike started with an excellent introduction of analyzing the chart to form some expectations of what we would see and experience.  The paddlers all took active turns in supplying ideas and suggestions as well as questions. 

 

It was about 1030 when we wrapped that up, got into our immersion wear and hit the water where we had a brief radio check and an overview of paddling signals and gear. The current was already more than a knot and rising as we headed east.  About a mile down we came to one of the hooks on the south side right about a ½ mile west of the Mill Creek opening.  This area provides the first and easiest point to study the water pattern and to introduce and practice peel outs.  After a few turns in the gentle current we proceeded on to the small cove opening of Mill Creek where a bio break was taken.  The shoreline gets very mucky here so caution is needed.

 

Once back in our boats I introduced the “rule of thumb” to calculate a working ferry angle.  All participants successfully performed a crossing of the now 2+ knot current with pretty much spot on results to arrive next to the marker at Libby Point.  We paused to share the results of being caught in the current and how correcting for it worked out.  Then we headed for the middle of the inlet straight for Cape Horn on the north side of the inlet which didn’t take very long to reach pretty much at noon with a max current of at least 3 knots. Some more time was spent doing some peel outs and then completing the more challenging but successful ferrying angles over to the north side and avoiding the rocks of Cape Cod.  Mike had gone first and observed some deer on the beach while he waited for the rest of us who missed them by the time we got around the point. 

 

Nobody needed to stop for any breaks at the Arcadia boat launch so we proceeded in the gentle breeze and over the deep hole directly in front of Steamboat Island to admire the marine life in the exposed reef at the very tip of the island/tombolo. I was encouraged to see more sea stars than I have the last few years; their population has been very slow to rebound from the wasting disease that really devastated them in this area.

We then made a hard left to head over to the state park on the south end of Hope Island saying hello to the many raccoons busily harvesting along the shore as we passed by, arriving  around 1400.

 

The tide was still ebbing slightly so we didn’t have to pull our boats out much.  I could see the exposed southern tip of the reef between Squaxin Island and Hope Island just off to the left as we hauled up the stairs to the available picnic tables. Other than a state park worker and his aluminum boat anchored in the cove we were the only ones there. 

 

We took our time eating as we had to wait for the tide to turn.  It was easy to do in the warm sunshine and it was very pleasant.  We packed up after about an hour.  On the way to my boat I noticed a shell lying on the beach that looked like it had been shrink wrapped by the thinnest of seaweed! 

We headed out to the reef.  Unfortunately it was all submerged—that didn’t take long!!—with some seals on the highest bit.  We avoided them as much as we could before turning west and headed back towards the inlet. 

 

Tom needed to leave at that point and went to Arcadia to call a friend to give him a shuttle.  The rest of us proceeded on into the inlet in the now flooding current.  As we approached Cape Horn again a fox was spied up on the embankment above it before vanishing into the thick bushy growth at the point. 

 

The wind picked up now and then, creating some wind waves and flapping flags then leaving them limp as we continued on.  As we approached Church Point the sand bars were really exposed and we had to head almost all of the way to the north shore in the now cackling water to get around them.  Nobody needed to get out in spite of the plentiful opportunities along the way.  I was surprised at the number of marine farming on the beaches of many of the houses we passed. 

 

It was about 1730 by the time we got back to Walker Park with the tide lower than when we had left it.  This was a qualifying student paddle for Jacob so I did the recoveries with him and he did a cracking good job.  We had to dodge the fishers who were where we left them; no wonder they hauled that enormous cooler down with them.

 

Mike and Laura had unloaded and got their boats and gear up while Jacob and I were doing our bit and more excellent teamwork was applied to get our remaining two boats up at 1800. A brief huddle was done after we were all loaded up and changed. A car battery had to be revived as we did so; neither one took very long.  It was late so nobody opted to go to dinner afterwards. It had been a long day but we were all satisfied that it had been well spent in good company on beautiful Hammersley Inlet!    

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