Under the Roar of the Jets - Deception Pass Headlands

Last month, I had a day off that corresponded with sunny weather and a low homework load! I packed my bags the night before and...I was called into work.

Two weeks later, I had a day off that corresponded with sunny weather and a low homework load! I packed my bags and...I was called into work.

Last week, I had a day off that corresponded with sunny weather and a low homework load! I packed my bags and waited to be called into work, but it never happened. When the day arrived, I quickly ditched town to head out on my first hike of the year.

The north end of Deception Pass State Park doesn't have the best cell service either, so if work needed me, they were SOL!

Deception Pass State Park

Parking permit needed: Discover Pass ($10 a day or $30 a year)

Miles: ~4 (if you don't get lost)

Elevation gain: 350 ft

My husband somehow ended up with the day off, too! So we drove out to Fidalgo Island and parked at Rosario Beach on the north end, with our aim being our favorite picnic spot near Lighthouse Point. From Highway 20, turn on Rosario Road (just at the south end of Pass Lake), then take another left on Cougar Gap Road, and keep hanging left until you reach the parking lot.

Purple path = what we did

We parked at the red "P". (I'll get to the red question mark in a bit.)

We've had gorgeous weather out here in the PNW lately. It's been killing the ski resorts, but it's great for an early start to the hiking season!

I got to try out my new hiking pack!

Zombie Stryke!

I bought it off off Woot.com for next to nothing. It was oversized for the short day hike we were on, but zombies, okay?

I am unsure of the official capacity for the pack, but it seems decently large, and it is hydration bladder compatible, which is a must for me!

Husband: "So, when did somebody decide zombies are colorblind? Because that pack sticks out like a sore thumb."
Me: "Shut up because you're just jealous."

We started off hiking around Rosario Head, which is a very short jaunt from the parking lot. We were the only ones there at the time, though in the summer it can get fairly crowded since it's so accessible. With views like this, can you really blame people?

One thing I love about Deception Pass (and Fidalgo/Whibey islands in general) is that you get a nice combination of decent cliffs for good views and level beaches for playing at the shore. Rosario Head has these cliffs, but not very away near the parking lot you have level beach that's a rock/sand mix.

It's a beautiful hike, but noisy, The Naval Air Station in nearby Oak Harbor regularly does training runs, so there's a constant background roar of jets. You can tune them out fairly quickly, though.

The last thing to check out before moving on is the totem pole of K?k^wál?l^w?t, the Maiden of Deception Pass:

Compare the beach in the background with the cliffs from the other pic! They're not far apart at all.

After our short jaunt around Rosario Head, it was time to head east to Bowman Bay and Lighthouse Point. We passed this cryptic sign along the way.

100 feet to what? And what's with the baby shoe? Wait, is this pointing us toward 100 BABY FEET?!?!

This is the Salish Sea after all. Feet washing up on shore has been known to happen...

We didn't find any feet as we passed the Bowman Bay campground and boat launch. From there, we followed the signs toward Lighthouse Point. (Bowman Bay is a good alternative parking area for Lighthouse Point if Rosario Beach parking is full in the summer; after turning on Rosario Road by Pass Lake take an immediate left and just keep hanging left until you find parking.) From the bay you stroll east until you get to a decent hill, and as you descend the other side you head out on a trombolo to another point of land to the south.

Husband: "What are you saying?"

Me: "Trombolo! Trombolobolobolo!"

Husband: "What the hell is that?"

Me: "It's a sand spit connecting two points of land! Trombolobolobolobolo!"

Husband: "Why don't you call it a sand spit then?"

Me: "Because it's a TROMBOLOBOLOBOLOBOLOBOLO!"

Husband: "I think you're adding extra syllables there."

Me: "I am! TROMbolobolobolobolo...."

Husband: "Please stop."

Me: "....bolobolobolobolo...."

Anyway, we stopped as we always do at our favorite picnic spot, which has the best view of Deception Pass bridge in the entire park.

This is our "secret" picnic spot. I was talking to a classmate from Anacortes about the Lighthouse Point hike, and he mentioned a "secret" spot that sounded exactly like my "secret" picnic spot. So, apparently it isn't a huge "secret", but there has never been anyone else there when we've been here.

In fact, it was so quiet, we took some time to enjoy the scenery. By that I mean..."enjoy the scenery". The jets were flying overhead. One took a low pass, then came back around a second time even lower. Unfortunately it's hard to "enjoy the scenery" when you brought along a dog who gets bored easily, so we were starting to pack up by then.

As secluded as our "secret" spot was, you're never hidden from the jets overheard. They see all...and we didn't even care!

Back on the main trail, you can see why it's called Lighthouse Point, though just barely:

Can you see that square structure in the middle? That's the lighthouse. It's a modern, boring-looking kind, not the fun old-school kind. There's no easy or legit way to get much closer than this; there's a sketchy climb down, over, and up some cliffs to get to it. I've never attempted it because it's not something I'd want to bring the dog along on.

Coming along, we reached the turn-around point of our hike. That grassy point in the middle across the bay is Rosario Head where we began:

I put a red question mark on our map, and that's because we got lost. It's not that big an area, but we managed it. We took a wrong turn and ended up on an illegitimate trail:

I'm going to blame the husband here, 'cause as you can see he's obviously leading the way. Despite realizing we had gone off the designated trail, we pressed on anyway. After all, it was going the general direction we wanted to go.

After a steep descent, though, we ended up at a dead end:

If the tide had been out, we may have been able to shimmy around the rocky cliffs, but the tide was not out, and there was no way around.

So we had to climb all the way back up the way we came. I mentioned it was steep and not a legit trail, right?

Always stay on the trail, kiddos!

Even the wildlife bitched us out. As we hiked back toward the car, I heard eagle chatter overhead, and was barely able to snag a pic of this guy:

Do you see him? (Or her?) If he hadn't made noise, we probably would have walked by none the wiser!

Our little detour added mileage and elevation effort, and as we returned to the car our dog Ozzy started whining because he was tired. We were a mile from the car, and he was whining. He has a lot of energy and never gets tired, so this was a victory! He passed out for part of the drive home.

We were spied on by some peeping jet pilots, and got a little lost, but overall it was beautiful weather and a great day to get out of town for a bit and go on a short coastal hike!

Extra Credit: For more bridge views and extended hiking, you can explore the trails around Lottie Point, which is just east of Lighthouse Point on the map.