As part of our trip up to Skagit County to see the Tulips, we camped at Deception Pass State Park. The park has grounds on the mainland and Whidbey Island to the South.
The area has a bit of interesting history. The first Europeans to “discover” the straight were Spanish explorers in 1790. It wasn’t until 1792 when the area was fully mapped that it became obvious that Whidbey Island was indeed an island, and the waterway more accurately a pass than a bay as believed earlier. For this reason the name Deception Pass was given.
The small island that figures into many of the iconic shots of the Deception Pass bridge when viewing out towards the West is Ben Ure Island, and despite its small size has a bit of a story as well. It was used extensively in the late 1800s for smuggling of Chinese laborers into the country. In a most graphic fashion, the laborers were often placed in burlap sacks while on ship so that if customs agents were spotted, they could simply be dropped overboard. Due to the currents the bodies made their way to the North and West to San Juan Island where many of them would be found in what would become known as Dead Man’s Bay
I did not know this history when we first arrived and walked out on Whidbey Island to line the setting sun up through the pass and silhouette the bridge, but I got plenty spooked none the less. We decided to cook dinner along the rocky shoreline, about a half mile from our car parked at the locked gate. Nicole went back to get water as I set up the camera and took some test shots. In exploring the small bluff behind our little area, I was shocked to see the brush move. I had woken a man sleeping in the woods. I backed off and went back to our belongings, a big bag of food, stove, camera. I thought about what this man must have thought, seeing us bring food and luxuries to his sleeping place. I felt bad, but there really wasn’t much to do- I quickly packed our stuff up and went back to the car before Nicole could come back out. The view was decent, but I wasn’t about to wait until dark with a man sleeping in the woods behind us.
Back to the bridge we went. Instead of having the bridge IN the picture, we’d be force to take pictures from the bridge. A few frames from the bridge offered an interesting vantage point, but with nothing in the foreground, not very interesting. Nicole insisted we walk down the trail a ways, and I’m glad we did, because we found a great place to watch the last few minutes of sunset and take a few great shots.
After the lightshow was seemingly over, we headed back across the bridge to our campsite. Once again Nicole came up big in eyeing a good photo location, and we stopped briefly to catch the last rays of sunlight over a small sliver of the Pacific.
Our campsite was relaxing. It was nice to have real pillows and full sized books in camp- not things we usually elect to carry on our backs! The stars peaked out through the tree canopy allowing for a little more photography before collapsing for the evening.
