The Parks Are Opened For Day Use
After being cooped up inside except for the occasional bike ride, this was the first time I got out to do a small amount of hiking. My son wanted to go to Deception Pass State Park and since it’s one of my favorite parks, I agreed to drive.
I knew before we got there that it was going to be packed. First, the governor lifted some restrictions and opened the state parks for day use only. Second, it was supposed to be a gorgeous days with the temperature in the 80s.
We drove there by way of Anacortes. With the amount of traffic on the road, I knew everyone else had the same idea. I told Marcus that if we managed to get a parking spot, we still needed to keep our distance from others.
Our first stop was at Rosario Beach. As expected, the parking lot was packed, but I managed to find one spot. I had chosen this part of the park because it’s usually not as busy as the other parts.
After getting MJ into the backpack carrier, we took off and headed for the short trail to Rosario Head. I had been here on busy weekends before and I was usually alone and may see 1-2 other people. Not today…there were so many people! We managed to keep our distance, but didn’t linger. I felt uncomfortable being near so many in the time of Covid-19.
We headed down to the beach, which was much less crowded. In fact, we had a good 100 yards to ourselves.
Marcus put MJ’s feet in the water and he started wailing. Silly man…the water is always cold here! He plopped MJ down on the coarse sand and let him play with the pebbles. It was a new tactile experience for the little guy and he loved it!
After leaving Rosario Beach, we drove over the Deception Pass bridge, where traffic was so backed up, we crawled around 2mph. I saw people trying to pass each other as they walked along the very narrow pedestrian lane across the bridge.
I was flabbergasted at how packed together everyone was…no social distancing going on there!
I found a parking spot in the lot closest to the trail leading to the beach under the bridge. There were people there, but not nearly as many as I’ve seen before. We were able to plop ourselves onto a log far from others. We had a snack while watching some folks fishing for herring.
As we walked back up to the parking lot, I was quite pleased that I was able to go up the steep path without stopping or getting out of breath like I had in the past. The bike riding has payed off!
I drove to the main beach & Cranberry Lake, but didn’t stop – I knew it would be a zoo and I was right. Just trying to get back out of the parking lot was a chore. All I could think was that as crowded as it was, the governor was going to close the parks again. As we left the park, a ranger was starting to stop cars from entering.
To get away from the crowd, I suggested we go to Fort Casey. There’s so much wide open space there, I figured we could keep our distance from others.
The parking lot at Fort Casey was fairly full, but people were really spread out.
We started to walk towards the lighthouse, but it had scaffolding all over it and wasn’t worth the effort. So, we headed in the other direction and walked over the batteries. Marcus found it interesting since he’s Navy and this was a naval fortification from the past.
We left Fort Casey when MJ was starting to get sleeping and needed a nap. He slept the entire ride home, which included the ferry ride from Clinton to Mukilteo (we stayed inside the car).
It was such a great day spending time outdoors! I even got a little bit of sun, turning pink in some areas.
