We spent the night at the dock on James Island. Our plan was to ride the morning current south through Lopez Pass and over to the county dock on Hunter Bay. Next we would unload our bicycles and ride to Agate Beach where we would then hike to Iceberg Point. If time permitted after returning to the boat, we would whale watch while cruising up Haro Strait on the outside of San Juan Island to spend the night at Garrison Bay or Roche Harbor. This seemed like an ambitious but doable first full day of our loosely planned vacation.
We left James late (9am) and arrived at Hunter Bay early (9:45), which is what happens when you are only going 4 1/2 miles.
Spotting the small county dock from a distance was difficult because a little rocky islet blocked our view until we were right on top of it. Half the boat hung out from the tiny cargo loading space, but we got the bicycles off without any problem, and then moved away and anchored in ten feet on a rising tide.
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| This county dock and ramp is for public use, but is primarily used by nearby local residents. Like all county docks, you may not spend the night but we see boats tied up all day and all night anyway. Under the gangway is a spot for dinghy's and next to the bicycles is reserved for loading and unloading only. Anchoring nearby is easy and the bay is well protected except from northerlies. |
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| In the far distance you can see Orcas Island, so any north winds building waves will be coming all the way from Eastsound and can be a touch big, just like southerlies coming from Hunter Bay tend to be uncomfortable when they reach the top of East Sound -- touche' Southend Store and restaurant is about a two mile walk with a pretty significant hill to go up and over. Off to the left where the cove is more protected are a number of cruisers bedded down. All in all, this is a pretty peaceful place to hang on the hook or come ashore.
We tied up in the already crowded dinghy spot under the gangplank. Watered, sun screened and raring to ride to Iceberg Point, we pedaled a few hundred feet and ended up walking up a rather steep hill the first 3/4 mile. It was a nice forested walk, we mingled with baby deer and glimpsed homes nestled around towering trees. Still pushing our bikes, we crested the hill only to find another much smaller hill. Finally we started coasting at flank speed down the other side and I'm thinking, oh boy, we have to come back over this mountain later today in blazing afternoon sun.
Once out on the islands only south end main road, we merged with and then were left in the dust of several large bicycle excursion groups complete with chase vans and guides. We caught up with them resting at Southend Store only to have them fly by us again on the way to Agate Beach Park. At Agate Beach we may have accidentally photo bombed them while they posed for group photos. We pushed on for a quarter mile and padlocked the bikes at the trail head to Iceberg Point.
We are almost at the half way point of our days planned bike/hike, all we have to do is walk the mile or so out to the point and back, then head for the boat like a horse to its barn. I want to call Uber.
I will save the details about Iceberg Point for another day except to say it is the tip of Lopez Island facing the Strait of Juan De Fuca, and I think it was a great worthwhile place to visit. I also think it would be a very miserable place on shore in a storm and downright dangerous off shore in small craft. Our day so far, was balmy and near perfect.
On the way back we were overtaken again by fit and trim excursion bicyclists, each one wishing us a good day as they sped by. The ones riding tandems seemed extra peppy.
We stopped at the same store/restaurant on the way back, no other bicyclists were in sight. I had been talking about getting a hamburger, coke and fries since leaving Iceberg Point. We sat down in the restaurant portion of the store at a table with a checkered tablecloth loaded with chips and salsa. I picked up the Mexican only menu to find pages of burritos, enchiladas and nachos. The hamburger and fries will have to wait. The pulled pork burritos we ordered were huge and the warm salsa was out of this world good.
I was ready for Uber or even a stranger with a rusty pickup when we saddled up for the last time an hour later, but the hill coming back was not as steep and we pedaled all but a short section, making it back to the dinghy and Kraken in short order.
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Iceberg Point Nav. aid. In the background is Cattle Pass and San Juan Island, beautiful calm day with a little lingering low haze. Across the Strait of Juan De Fuca we were treated to the snow capped Olympic mountains
The same nav-aid viewed from the water hours later as we head north hoping to spot orcas, still a flat hazy day. You don't have to ride bikes from Hunter Bay like we did, you can anchor at Agate Beach and make the easy hike out to Iceberg Point.
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| There is no dock at Agate Beach but you can anchor right in front of the stairs and hike the short distance to the Iceberg Point trail head. The bike ride from Hunter Bay to Iceberg Point is enjoyable and takes you by Southend Store for a handy lunch stop or in my case - directions. |
Our bike and hike was just about perfect, we will do it again someday. All together we pedaled about 7 1/2 miles, and walked 1 or 2. After loading up we headed leisurely around the south end of Lopez fighting a small current until we cleared Cattle Pass where we got a little boost all the way through Mosquito Pass. We took a slip at Roche Harbor in time to watch the "Lowering of the flags" ceremony. When they fired the canon, my day was complete. I slept well that night.
