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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121
James Island Marine State Park
121

James Island Marine State Park

west of Anacortes, Washington
visited 19 July 2023
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This is a story of beauty, strength, and misadventure.

James Island is a relatively small member of the San Juan Islands, close (3 miles over water) and yet far from Anacortes. Camping is allowed on the island, but beyond that, there are no permanent residents; just a quiet forest for temporary visitors to enjoy.

Let’s start with the beauty and we’ll get to the other parts later.

I paddled over from Washington Park in Anacortes, which is well worth exploring in its own right. (It’s not a state park, so I won’t be including it in this project.)

Here is the island as seen from maybe a quarter mile to its southeast:

A rounded, forested island with rocky, tan cliffs at its base rises from calm blue water under a clear cloudless sky, with faint distant shorelines visible on either side.
Rosario Strait, near Anacortes, Washington

On this day it was super clear and I could see Mount Baker.

A white sailboat with a full mainsail marked SW1160167 glides across the deep blue waters of Rosario Strait under a clear sky, with forested islands and the snow-capped peak of Mount Baker rising in the distance.
Rosario Strait, near Anacortes, Washington

I saw one writer refer to the island as being shaped like a dog bone and I think that analogy fits. (See map at bottom of this page and zoom in a bit.) The north half of the island is off-limits to the public as a Natural Forest Area, but there’s plenty to do in the neck and south half of the island.

The “neck” of the island, if you will, forms two crescent-shaped harbors on the east and west sides. I put in on the east side.

A white cabin cruiser and a small dinghy anchored near a rocky, pebbly shoreline of a forested island under a clear blue sky, with calm blue-green water in the foreground reflecting the sky and a distant tree-covered island on the horizon.

There are some hiking trails on the south half of the island which I explored for a while and had totally to myself:

A dirt footpath winds between tall tree trunks in a sunny forest, with dappled light falling across the ground and patches of grass, pine needles, and a fallen log among the trees.
A dirt trail winds through a stand of tall, slender evergreen trees, their trunks casting long shadows across the pine-needle-covered forest floor. Through the trees in the distance, glimpses of blue ocean water and sky are visible on a sunny day.
A rocky headland topped with evergreen conifers and dry golden grass juts into calm blue water at James Island Marine State Park, with a pebble-and-driftwood beach in the foreground and distant tree-covered hills on the horizon under a clear deep-blue sky.
A weathered fallen tree, its bark grey and bleached white in places, lies across a golden dry-grass hillside sloping toward the water. Dark evergreen trees line the ridge under a clear blue sky, with a glimpse of the sea and distant shoreline beyond.

Midway around the bluff trail, I got some nice views of nearby Decatur Island.

A calm blue bay under a clear cloudless sky, with a forested rocky island rising to the right and a tree-lined shoreline with a gravel beach in the distance. In the foreground are dark rocks and dry golden grass along the water’s edge, with kelp visible in the shallow water.
A view from a wooded shoreline bluff looking across calm blue-green water toward a forested island and rocky headland under a clear blue sky. Weathered evergreen tree trunks frame the scene, with dry golden grass, driftwood, and lichen-covered rocks in the foreground and a few small boats visible in the distant cove.
A narrow dirt trail climbs a hillside of dry golden grass toward a stand of tall Douglas firs and evergreens under a clear deep-blue sky, with a smooth-barked madrona tree branch overhanging from the upper right and dappled shadows falling across the grass.
A dirt hiking trail rises through a grove of tall, slender evergreen trees with bare trunks and green canopies against a clear blue sky, with dry grass, tree stumps, and large boulders on either side.
A white catamaran anchored in calm blue water within a sheltered cove, with tall evergreen trees and rugged rocky shoreline in the foreground and a distant tree-covered coastline under a clear blue sky.
A close-up of a weathered tree trunk with rough, flaking bark mottled by pale green and gray lichen, with fallen pine needles caught in its crevices; dry grasses and mossy rocks appear along the right edge.

And a couple of last photos before it was time to head back to Anacortes.

A calm blue cove under a clear sky, with a white sailboat anchored at left and a rocky, evergreen-covered headland rising on the right; forested hills stretch across the horizon and the shallow water reveals a rocky bottom in the foreground.
A rugged rocky shoreline topped with tall evergreen conifers juts into calm blue water under a clear sky, with the snow-capped cone of Mount Baker and low forested hills visible across the strait in the distance.

So, that’s the beauty of James Island.

I opened this post also talking about “strength and misadventure.” I’m going to write up what we in the software business call a “retro” or retrospective, an analysis of what happened when something goes badly wrong.

Here goes:

I was not smart about planning this trip. I had started a couple hours later than originally planned. In retrospect, I should have called off the trip and saved it for another time, but I was eager and the conditions seemed good on the way out. The bad outcome was that I wound up fighting tidal currents and getting blown badly off of my intended course. I ultimately made it back safely, but it took much longer than I expected and a lot more work than it should have.

Lesson learned: Wisdom outranks ambition. Do the research on where you’re going, how you’re getting there, and honor the results, no matter how tempting the destination might seem.

There are several similar island state parks around Orcas Island, which I had hoped to visit in the next few days. I’m holding off for now because I need to recover and also rethink how I get there. (I’m hoping to get to one island, but it won’t involve a kayak. Stay tuned …)

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