Deception Pass State Park is Washington State’s most visited state park. It sits mainly on the north end of Whidbey Island, but also is on Pass Island, Fidalgo Island and a bit on the mainland. From waterfront, to the famous double span bridge over the pass, to deep evergreen forests, it is a massive state park (the biggest on our island). Going in the off-season is the best when it is quieter out there. In summer it is over run with tourists. The trails to Goose Rock are many and wind up the hill to the top elevation of Whidbey Island, at 484 ft above sea level.
When we first moved to Whidbey Island, I was 16. It was an abrupt move in the late spring. I was not happy. We had been living in a far more urban area, and to be forced to live in this awful place – 10 miles from town with no car and no transit system? I might as well have been sent back to the Dark Ages. There was nothing else to do but hike. I was a punk kid with 2″ of orange hair….hiking in the evergreen trees long ago.
Me. Minus my hair being spiked up like normal. Those rocks are on North Beach in the park, and yes, are really that green.
We lived across the street from the ELC (Environmental Learning Center) that the park ran on the head of Cornet Bay, which sits below Goose Rock. I’d cross the road and wander into the park via the ELC with nothing to do. And wander I did. I spent the summer of 1989 angry, pacing the trails.
In modern times, there are a few ways to access the trails we hiked. On Hwy 20 the park has a visitor center, just up the road from the ancient convenience store. The visitor center you can park at, and the trail access is just behind it. Or as we were, camping at Quarry Pond Campground, just off the highway, on Cornet Bay Road. Just past the bathroom is an awkwardly signed “Trail” sign. The arrow points the wrong way; walk past the sign and aim for the dirt road ahead, and you will see this sign:
That sign is accurate. Head up on it.
The trail is wide and well-maintained and goes through thick forest—lots of cedar and Douglas firs.
Shelf Fungi and a feather.
The trail peaks and heads downhill.
An old stump, long eaten away and used as a nurse log for trees growing up out of it.
The trail comes to a junction. Straight ahead is the Goose Rock trail. To the right is access to the ELC camp. To the left is the Discovery Trail. The PNT (Pacific Northwest Trail) crosses north and central Whidbey Island, and the Goose Rock Permiter Trail is part of it.
Kirk had never been back here, so I took him walking. We headed straight at first and puttered down the perimeter trail.
It winds along Cornet Bay (looking down the bay, towards the docks).
This alcove I could see where I called home for 2 years of my life. The high lines for power come across Goose Rock, then swing over the head of Cornet Bay. It has 2 sections. Those go up the next hill and run down all 50-55 miles of our island – and that is how we get power. Island to island. The shack we called home sat between those lines.
Pretty areas to stand or sit at and contemplate life. I thought about it and realized that living here had healed me just a bit all those years ago. I was a furious teen, running from a lot. I grew up in a family that was deeply embedded in a cult. I don’t look at those 2 years here positively, but they changed me – and helped my love of hiking.
We walked for a time, then turned back and went to the junction. With the weather being suspect on Saturday, I didn’t want to be up on the summit of Goose Rock. So we walked the Discovery Trail instead.
This trail connects the ELC to North Beach and is also a back access for emergency purposes. It’s a wide trail, and super smooth.
It’s an open walk, through a forest and boggy areas holding water.
And so much green. Salal, Evergreen Huckleberry, Red Huckleberry and Salmonberry along with ferns and even stinging nettle are present.
A shattered Douglas Fir.
We saw no one back here. It’s a magical walk though. I remember hiking it when I was 16, to go down to the beach. No car is needed. No crossing the highway.
Because you suddenly come around the bend to see a beautiful bridge of CCC era (the great depression years, the park was nearly built by them).
The highway crosses this bridge, and almost no one ever notices that it is even a bridge, much less that there is a trail below it.
The trail goes to a group camp and then you can hike downhill to North Beach to access the beach and the trail that shoots back uphill to the bridge (which then connects to the Goose Rock Permiter trail if one wanted a loop).
We headed back and the weather shifted quickly. It started to rain (even though the weather app showed no rain…..) so I got moving.
Kirk waiting for me. He’s a foot taller than me, and I can never keep up with him. I am used to it, and he patiently waits here and there for me. We were under cedar trees in the final section so the rain barely touched us.
We got back to the trailhead and zipped into our RV. Not long after, the skies opened up. It was hailing hard, and did that for the next 2 hours. Then it snowed.
Wa state parks require a Discover Pass for parking. Dogs are allowed, but on leash only. Bikes not allowed, but you’ll see them.
~Sarah