San Juan Islands Sea Kayaking from Anacortes

This week has been a lovely mix of sea kayaking, long walks in the woods, playing with our little boy, and a dash of habitat restoration, enough to make the soul sparkle.

We were down at Deception Pass State Park this weekend, it was the monthly gathering of like-minded individuals who come here to battle invasive Ivy, acres of Scotch Broom, and other nasty botanical elements trying to take over our beautiful native forests. Rick Machin, of the San Juan Preservation Trust, and I climbed up to a beautiful mossy "bald", or grassy clearing, high above Deception Pass to tackle a particularly thick copse of Scotch Broom. Although the plant produces a showy yellow flower in the spring, it is a particularly nasty invasive species that crowds out the plants that have existed here for thousands of years. It took a couple of hours, but at the end of it we felt pretty good at the work we had accomplished. Next year we might be able to walk up here to enjoy the beauty of native wildflowers blooming against the gorgeous backdrop of Deception Pass.

Speaking of wildflowers, our kayak tours are enjoying a fantastic bloom out on the south side of Burrows Island right now. Acres of Camas, Monkeyflower, Calypso Orchid, and Shooting Stars give the steep slopes a great contrast in color. We've also been able to watch Coyotes foraging along the shoreline. They seem to be seeking out the Chitons that are exposed on the rocks at low tides. From what I understand, Burrows Island, Allan Island, and Fidalgo Island are the only San Juan Islands that host a Coyote population. They seem smaller than the ones I grew up with back on the farm in the south Puget Sound. Small, but healthy.