Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

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41
Cutts Island Marine State Park
41

Cutts Island Marine State Park

west of Gig Harbor, Washington
visited 31 May 2021
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I visited Cutts Island on Memorial Day 2021 as summer weather was just beginning and fears about the pandemic were waning. People were eager to get out and enjoy a day out on the water and breathe a sigh of relief; thus the island seemed transformed into one enormous “life resumes” party.

I paddled out from the Horsehead Bay landing, which was busy with all manner of boats, jet skis, and fellow kayakers. From Horsehead Bay, it is about 2.5 miles over the water to a landing on the north side of the island. There’s a bit of a tidal current in the bay; otherwise, the main challenge is the wakes left by motorboats. On this holiday, that was a very frequent obstacle.

On the way to this park, I paddled past Kopachuck State Park, which was also very popular:

A calm inlet seen from near water level, with a forested shoreline curving across the right side and distant tree-lined coast beyond, dotted with small houses and people on a sandy beach. A vivid blue sky streaked with wispy cirrus clouds sits above the deep blue reflective water, where an orange buoy floats near the shore.

A bit later, Cutts Island came into view:

A small tree-topped island with steep eroded sandy bluffs rises from calm blue water, connected to a low gravel spit, under a vast purple-blue sky streaked with wispy clouds. Distant tree-lined shoreline and low hills sit near the horizon at Cutts Island State Park near Gig Harbor, Washington.
Cutts Island, as seen from the south.
A small forested island topped with dense evergreen trees rises from calm tidal waters at Cutts Island State Park near Gig Harbor, Washington, with a sandy spit exposed at low tide beneath a deep blue sky streaked with wispy clouds.
Cutts Island, as seen from the west.
A gravelly sandspit exposed at low tide at Cutts Island State Park, with powerboats pulled up along the shoreline and small groups of people, including children playing, beneath a vast purple-blue sky streaked with wispy clouds. In the background a forested shoreline dotted with waterfront homes rises above the calm waters of Puget Sound.
A low-tide beach scene on Puget Sound where green algae-covered cobblestones fill the foreground, giving way to a strip of pale sand where several people sit and play near small motorboats. Beyond the blue water, a forested shoreline dotted with houses stretches under a bright blue sky with wispy clouds.
A large weathered driftwood log with upward-reaching bare branches lies on a pebble beach at low tide, with strands of green seaweed draped over one end. Beyond the calm blue water of Puget Sound, a forested shoreline stretches across the horizon under a bright blue sky streaked with wispy cirrus clouds.

There are a few trails through the forest on the park, which offer some nice views of the water and mountains nearby.

A sunlit dirt trail winds through a coastal forest at Cutts Island State Park near Gig Harbor, Washington, littered with pine cones, twigs and fallen branches. Tall evergreen conifers and an ivy-covered tree trunk frame the path, with blue sky peeking through the canopy and a glimpse of water visible in the distance.
A calm blue inlet viewed through a frame of tree trunks and green foliage, with white motorboats anchored on the water and a forested shoreline dotted with waterfront homes under a bright blue sky with wispy clouds.
A dirt hiking trail winds through dense green coastal forest at Cutts Island State Park, flanked by lush shrubs and arching madrona and conifer trees under a bright blue sky with wispy clouds.
A weathered madrona tree with peeling, twisting bark stands along a shoreline at Cutts Island State Park, its bare branches reaching into a vivid blue sky streaked with wispy clouds. Below, calm water stretches toward a forested point of land, with a small boat anchored near the far shore and green undergrowth filling the foreground.
A calm, sunlit inlet under a bright blue sky streaked with wispy cirrus clouds, seen from a rocky, algae-covered shore at Cutts Island State Park near Gig Harbor, Washington. A small motorboat sits on the water at left, paddleboarders and kayakers drift in the distance, forested shorelines line the horizon, and a leafy madrona branch frames the upper right.
A dirt overlook framed by madrona trees and green brush opens onto the calm blue waters of Puget Sound at Cutts Island State Park, with a fallen driftwood log in the foreground and a distant forested shoreline backed by snow-capped mountains under a bright blue sky.
A weathered, barnacle-crusted driftwood log with reddish-brown bark lies diagonally across a rocky beach covered in smooth gray, brown, and tan pebbles, with a patch of green seaweed and two other bleached driftwood pieces at the top of the frame.
A close-up of smooth, rounded beach cobbles crisscrossed by white quartz veins, scattered among crushed shell gravel on a sunlit shoreline at Cutts Island State Park near Gig Harbor, Washington. Several large gray and tan stones dominate the frame, with a dried leaf and bits of green seaweed nestled between them.
Some fun textures in the rocky beach.
A small forested island fringed with tall evergreen trees rises above a gravel beach at Cutts Island State Park, with kayaks, dinghies, and a motorboat pulled up on the shore and a few people standing around, all seen from the water under a dramatic blue sky streaked with wispy clouds.
Paddling back along the east side of the island.

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