PNT day 54-56 – Whidbey Island

A few miles here and there…

The campsite I had chosen was actually great and the traffic noise from nearby State Route 20 didn’t bother me much. With less than a couple of miles to hike to Deception Pass bridge and the Pick up point there was no need to get up early. I ended up staying in my sleeping bed until past 9am! After slowly packing up I started hiking. I had camped closer to the car park than I thought! From there a small trail went parallel to State Route 20 to the bridge. The road was very busy (on the information board I read that the bridge was crossed by 15000 cars each day) and so I needed to be careful until I was on the sidewalk of the bridge.

Deception Pass isn’t only a bridge – it is also a state park and the bridge wasn’t only busy with cars but also with countless tourists. Although the weather wasn’t the best and clouds were hanging in the sky the landscape of Deception Pass was still stunning. I stopped to take a few photos before I went all across to the other side and to the car park.

I was early and so I spend some time watching tourists until I was picked up by Kay and Dale. They were friends of my friends Mary and Jim from California and they were willing to host a skinny and stinky hiker they didn’t even know for a few days! Thankfully I entered the car and Kay immediately started to give me all the information I need to know about Whidbey Island. I think I learned more about this island by staying with Kay than I could have ever discovered on my own! It was just awesome!

My new friends gave me a home away from home, fed me some good food and showed me around on the whole island. We visited Oak Harbour, the lovely little town of Coupeville, a place called Greenbook with a very nice Cafe and some overpriced souvenir shops, Ebey’s Landing and some of the beaches to watch out for whales. Unfortunately they didn’t show up.

Dale took me for a walk to the beach near the house and it was so peaceful to just sit on some driftwood and watch the ocean.

My time on Whidbey Island was a blast! Instead of hiking I experienced the island mostly as a windscreen tourist but I got the best guided tour ever and the best is that I have made some new friends!

And it wasn’t quite the end yet…

But I didn’t only rest. I also sewed some holes in the mesh bags of my backpack again and glued my shoes. Since Mazama my trailrunners are held together by some superglue and it works surprisingly well. Before the Olympics I thought it’s time to put on some more – just in case. So all that was done and then there were the permits…

For camping in the Olympic National Park I had to reserve campspots and pay for each night. While the PNTA website told me it should be possible on the phone the computer answering the phone told me to do it online. And so I sat down in front of Kay’s computer and was still sitting after two hours with a little less patience. What the h…?! It wasn’t possible to book the campsites I wanted because the website assumed I couldn’t hike that far. Really?! I tried to call the rangers in Port Angeles again which is an enerving procedure because you have to call a hotline, listen to a bot, press the right buttons and eventually be fortunate enough to be forwarded to a real human. I felt being back in the world of business!

The ranger who finally answered the phone said he would do the job for me and I went with him through all the campsites I wanted to book. In the end he said he could just do the first two and I would have to come to Port Angeles in person. They want to explain me coastal travel and the tide. (It’s low tide twice a day and I started wondering what else there was I necessarily needed to know.) Getting to Port Angeles and the Wilderness Information Center now or inbetween of my hike was a big hazzle and I started thinking about the fine for illegal camping in a National Park.

But then a very convenient solution for my problem showed up…