Saturday, August 25, 2012

San Juan Islands, WA: Orcas Island

The San Juan Islands are a small island group located between Washington and Canada.  Years ago Kevin went on a five-day kayaking trip through here, and he’s always wanted to come back and explore them by car.  We caught an early morning ferry from Anacortes and arrived on Orcas Island just in time for lunch.

The town of Orcas, one of about three towns on the island.

The island is small, only about 57 square miles, with a population of about 5,000 people.  It’s definitely a rural setting – there are no stoplights but plenty of orchards and farms.  The scenery is gorgeous, and the view from Mt. Constitution (the island's highest point) gives you a great view of all the other islands (and the mainland, on a clear day).

On Friday afternoon, we did a nice hike around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park, then headed to our campsite at Cascade Lake.  The campsites were a little close together, but it was a beautiful day to be outdoors.

On Saturday morning, we spent some time in Eastsound, the island’s largest town.  The main street has a lot of artsy shops and a couple of pretty public beaches.

The Saturday Farmers’ Market was in full swing.

We had a ferry to catch, but that didn’t stop us from wandering past each of the stalls and sampling some of the fresh fruits – organic strawberries and Shiro plums.  They were perfectly ripe and sugary sweet.

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