Hi, I'm Eric.

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

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

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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.

A full rainbow arcs over the calm, rain-dappled waters of Squaxin Passage, with a wooded shoreline and a waterfront house with a dock in the distance under a dramatic cloudy sky. In the lower right foreground, a wooden kayak paddle blade rests at the water’s surface.

Rippling deep-blue water of Squaxin Passage in the foreground, with a wooded shoreline of tall evergreen trees and a few waterfront houses, including a bright blue one, beneath a mostly sunny sky dotted with clouds.

Rippling dark blue-gray water of Squaxin Passage stretches toward a low, forested shoreline dense with evergreen trees, beneath a dramatic sky of heavy gray storm clouds broken by a patch of deep blue.

Hope Island, as seen from its west side.

A broad view across the rippled, silvery waters of Squaxin Passage under a dramatic sky where dark storm clouds break to reveal patches of blue and a hazy sun in the upper left. Low forested shorelines with scattered waterfront homes line the distant horizon.

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.

A broad green meadow dotted with bare, gnarled apple trees in an old orchard, backed by tall evergreen conifers and a dense forest, with a weathered barn and a windmill tower partly visible among the trees under a heavy, overcast gray sky.

A wet wooden boardwalk leads down to the shoreline of a calm lake at Hope Island State Park, with grassy banks, scattered driftwood, and reflective pools in the foreground. A dark forested shoreline lines the far side of the water beneath a broad sky of dramatic blue and white clouds, framed by evergreen branches on both sides.

A weathered, lichen-covered driftwood log curves across a grassy shoreline scattered with crushed white shells and sand at Hope Island State Park, with calm blue-gray water beyond and a dense evergreen forest lining the far shore under a partly cloudy sky.

A quiet gravel and sand shoreline at Hope Island State Park, where a bare fallen tree leans out over calm blue-gray water and evergreen boughs frame the right edge. Across the inlet, a forested shoreline of conifers stretches under a dramatic sky filled with billowing white clouds and patches of deep blue.

A large weathered driftwood stump with a moss-covered root system rises from a pebbly beach at Hope Island State Park, its twisting trunk pointing skyward. Behind it a calm inlet of Puget Sound stretches to forested shorelines under a dramatic sky of blue and gray clouds, with evergreen trees framing the left side.

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 …

A dramatic break in heavy gray storm clouds reveals a pale sun over Squaxin Passage, with wooded shorelines flanking the calm waters and a tree-covered point dotted with houses on the left. Afternoon light glints off the rippling water in the foreground.

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:

Kitsap Memorial State Park

Bogachiel State Park

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Hope Island Marine State Park (of Mason County)

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