Romano - Day hiking: the San Juans and Gulf Islands

Iceberg Point, San Juan Islands National Monument, Lopez Island

Cypress Lake, Cypress Island

Fawn lilies at Whistle Lake, Fidalgo Island

Sandhill crane at Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, Westham Island

Sinclair Island county dock with Cypress Island in the background

Enjoying the view from Sunset Beach on Vendovi Island

Mount Baker from Patos Island

Rainbow at Pass Lake, Deception Pass State Park, Fidalgo Island

Midden Beach on Gray Peninsula, Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park, Galiano Island

Wide sandy beach at the top of Sydney Spit

Burgoyne Bay and Sansum Narrows from Mount Maxwell

DAY HIKING

The San Juans and

Gulf Islands

saanich peninsula anacortes victoria

by Craig Romano

Mountaineers Books is the nonprofit publishing division of The Mountaineers, an organization founded in 1906 and dedicated to the exploration, preservation, and enjoyment of outdoor and wilderness areas. 1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201 Seattle, WA 98134 800.553.4453 www.mountaineersbooks.org

Copyright 2014 by Craig Romano

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

First edition, 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Distributed in the United Kingdom by Cordee, www.cordee.co.uk

Copy Editor: Julie Van Pelt

Book Design: Mountaineers Books

Additional Design and Layout: Jen Grable

Cartographer: Pease Press Cartography

All photographs by author unless otherwise noted.

Cover photograph: Taylor Bay near the Malaspina Galleries, Gabriola Island

Frontispiece: Finlayson Arm from Jocelyn Hill, Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Romano, Craig.

Day hiking : the San Juans and Gulf Islands / by Craig Romano.

pages cm.

ISBN 978-1-59485-758-4 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-59485-759-1 (ebook)

1. HikingWashington (State)San Juan IslandsGuidebooks. 2. HikingBritish ColumbiaGulf IslandsGuidebooks. 3. San Juan Islands (Wash.)Guidebooks. 4. Gulf Islands (B.C.)Guidebooks. I. Title.

GV199.42.W22S37 2014

796.5109797dc23

2013048310

Printed on recycled paper

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-59485-758-4

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-59485-759-1

Researching and writing Day Hiking: The San Juans and Gulf Islands was fun, exciting, and a lot of hard work. I could not have finished this project without the help and support of many people.

A huge thank you to all of the great people at Mountaineers Books, especially publisher Helen Cherullo, project manager Mary Metz, and editor in chief Kate Rogers, who was patient with all my challenges in putting this book together.

I want to especially acknowledge, once again, my editor Julie Van Pelt. I have worked with her on all of my Day Hiking books, and I feel that we have hiked the state together. Julies professionalism and attention to detail (and dealing with all of my dangling modifiers) have greatly contributed to making this book a finer volume.

I could not have hopped twenty-eight islands and researched so many great places without the help of Barbara Marrett of the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, Cathy Ray and Tessa Humphries of Tourism Victoria, Lana King and Nadine Chodl of Tourism Vancouver Island, Eric Kalnins of BC Ferries, Jesse Keefer, and Bill Eisenhauer. Thank you all.

A big grazie too to the following people for welcoming me aboard their vessels: Beau Brandow, Alan Hobbes Buchanan, Jake Dey, Dick Hobbis, Kurt Irwin, Walter Pfahl, Rey Rubalcava, and Chris and Toi Wright.

Thanks go out to Jack Hartt with Washington State Parks and a huge thank you to Kathleen Foley with the San Juan Preservation Trust for providing me with so much useful background information.

I want to also once again thank God for watching over me while on the trail. And lastly, but most importantly, I want to thank my loving wife, Heather, for supporting me while I worked on yet another guidebook. Thanks for hiking with me too, to some of the special places in this book, and for providing me with more precious memories.