Deception Pass State Park - Pass Lake — Sunday, Mar. 16, 2025

Sarah, an Anacortes resident and Mountaineers' hike leader, took us to her favorite spots in Deception Pass State Park. I highly recommend her 12-mile route (in the link below), it hit some spots I had never seen and very much enjoyed. We went through many different habitats, passed along numerous beaches, open spots (with flowers), coastline trails, and over the bridge. I learned that this area is partially in the Olympic rain shadow (Anacortes only gets 26" of rain a year on average, compared to Seattle's 35") and because of this (in the open areas) we saw grass widows (photo 1), death camus (photo 2), and small-flowered blue-eyed Marys (photo 3). The sand dune area on the spit of land that separates Cranberry Lake from the ocean is very different/interesting. The wooded portion is tinted pale green from all of the lace lichen, you can see it a little bit in the background of the squirrel photo. We also saw our first fairy slipper orchids of the season! The early forest flowers are blooming, red currant, oso-berry, salmonberry, and more.  

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.gaiagps.com/public/N5v6lCLVuQuPtxzGg4XUAONA/