Your own private island (for a little while, anyway)? That was my experience when I visited Skagit Island earlier this summer. I had the island to myself for the hour or so that I visited this park.

Getting there is half the fun. I put in from Ala Spit County Park, north of Oak Harbor. It’s a little less than two miles across the water from Ala Spit to the landing site on the northeast side of Skagit Island.

Signs at the park warn of difficult currents and tides. I was fortunate not to encounter any challenges getting to Skagit Island, but do be careful and be aware of tides, currents, and wakes from nearby boats.

There’s a hiking trail around the island; it gets sketchy in some places, but worry not … it does go all the way through!

If you squint hard enough from around here, you can catch a view of the Deception Pass Bridge.

From the south side of the island, you can see Hope Island State Park, which I visited next.

Skagit Island is close to Kukutali Preserve, which I had visited earlier in the day. It doesn’t look like it’s feasible to kayak from Kukutali to these islands. (At a minimum, it would involve a long portage from the parking lot to the channel and I wasn’t prepared for that.) But, there’s a nice view back to Kukutali from the east side of Skagit Island.

One last look back at Skagit Island as I paddled on to the next destination.

For more information:

• State Parks web site