19

Hope Island Marine State Park (of Mason County)

east of Shelton, Washington

visited 7 February 2021

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And now, for something completely different! By my count, 23 of Washington’s state parks are accessible only by water. No problem! Have kayak; will paddle! The first of them, Hope Island, is located a few miles east of Shelton in Puget Sound. My daughter and I set out on a mostly sunny afternoon to explore the waters and the island.

We set out from the landing at Arcadia a few minutes after a rainstorm had passed. Mother Nature treated us to a rainbow and some fun cloudscapes on the way.

Hope Island, as seen from its west side.

Looking south to Steamboat Island and Carlyon Beach (on the left).

Celebrating our imminent arrival on Hope Island!

For much of the 20th century, the island was a private family retreat and orchard. The state acquired the property in 1990 and has preserved the grounds nicely. We explored for most of an hour.

I had hoped to hike a circle around the full island, but we noticed another rainstorm approaching and decided it best to cut short our exploration. This last picture shows what we were facing …

Escaping back to Arcadia in the now much-choppier waters. Thankfully the wind was blowing us in more or less the right direction!

About the parenthesis on the title: There is another state park named Hope Island that I will be exploring later. The other one is in the north side of Puget Sound between Deception Pass and La Conner. (Update: I’ve now been to that one, too!)

For more information:

• State Parks web site
• Mason County Guide