We took off for the San Juan Islands after a fond farewell to the Cahoon Clan. A ferry boat picked us up at Anacortes and dropped us off on Orcas Island. It is beautifully forested, and has some lovely sea views, so we were glad we chose to go there over snowy Mt. Rainier.
The first two nights we camped, happy for once to be in bear-free country. Our third night we stayed in the most lovely bed and breakfast, called Otter's Pond, where we were treated like family.
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| The lake we camped by the first two nights. Wish we could remember the name! |
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| Something about this tree stirred us... |
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First sunset
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During the daytime we roamed the island. Our favorite adventure was climbing up Mt. Constitution --- another rather steep ascent, but well worth the view at the top. We must have picked the best day of the year, since we could see Mt. Rainier clear as crystal. (The sign at the top of the mountain said, "If you are really really lucky you might catch a glimpse of Mt. Rainier). It was 130 miles away. Another highlight of this hike was a super deep scary cave which we wished we could have explored, but hadn't brought our lights.
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| The hike up Mt. Constitution included many enchanting mossy corners of forest |
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| View of Mt. Baker from the top of Mt. Constitution |
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| "The Tower" at the top of Mt. Constitution (There's driving access from the other side of the mountain. We felt gratified after 4-5 mile ascent that we hadn't taken the easy route). This was built during the good ol' CCC boys during the Depression. M. got to wear C.'s hat because she left her big floppy one at the Cahoons'. |
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| The camera did something kind of funny with these guys, and it looks like we just copied and pasted them in. But believe us, this pond near the top of Mt. C. was full of salamanders. We couldn't take our eyes off them for 30 minutes or so. That pond was brim with life. |
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| The salamander pond. |
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| Nice frog portrait captured by C. next to the same pond. He really posed for us, letting C. get within three inches or so. |
Wished we had kayaked, but the day we had set aside for it was a bit stormy, and kayakers were being rescued by bigger boats. So we read on the beach for a few hours, and watched little brown crabs wrestle in the pebbles.
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| These lovely flowers covered the whole island. |
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