Ferry to Whidbey Island and North Cascades

Ferry to Whidbey Island and North Cascades - July 15, 2024

This morning we had an 8am ferry ride reserved from Port Townsend to Coupeville (on Whidbey Island). You reserve on the Washington State Department of Transportation website. The reservation holds you a spot on the ferry at that time. The reservation only charges $10 if you do not show. You actually pay depending on vehicle and number of people after you get there. You need to arrive 30-45 minutes before your reserved time. They have a standby for those without a reservation who can get on if they have room. It seemed like some were added at one point while we waited, though I'm not sure. With the reservation, you provide your vehicle length and height and maybe weight too. (I sort of remembering googling the weight of our expected rental car -- that would have been another issue with the minivan or truck up that the rental car company tried to give us. The reservation said that if your vehicle was bigger than you put in when reserving that you would be moved to standby. Though maybe a minivan did not push the vehicle into the next size category.) We paid almost $22 for the ferry for the car and driver and an additional person was $4. Charging for an additional person in the car seemed weird. We walked around, but still it was not very crowded. They had a cafe where the extra person(s) could have purchased more, but it was not open when we were on.

We went through the toll booth, had our reservation barcode scanned, paid, and then were told what numbered lane to wait in. It was not chaos or busy getting into the port area or through the toll booth, like I worried that it may be. Arriving so early, it was a long wait, so we played Lexica (Boogle like) with each other on our phones while we waited. We did noticed at one point that the ferry arrived. They disembarked. Then we started boarding by lane as instructed. It was after our 8am time slot before we loaded. Our lane was the last row in the ship and was a closed in box or tunnel. They loaded the big vehicles first and in the middle of the ferry (RV in front below).

We were on the Kennewick. We went up for a view; it was windy and chilly. Then we found an inside front view. Here are some views from the ferry and the big vehicle/RV in front. It was also a foggy morning. I overheard some locals talking and noting that it would burn off pretty quickly.

The ride was about 20 minutes. We watched the approach on Google maps, wondering if they would announce when to go back to cars. Travis thought no, but it would be mass chaos if people in the front of a line were not in their car. I ferrying is old hat to some people, but we don't have the need in Texas. They did announce to go back, but said not to start the engine until they announced to do so.

On Whidbey Island, we stopped at a small Walmart for a restroom break and for a little more food. Also, surprisingly, Whidbey Island had the cheapest gas in all the areas of WA that we saw.

We next arrived at the North Cascade Visitor Center and had a picnic on some tables in the back and got the map and advice/trail paper on hiking the Maple Pass Loop trail for tomorrow. This trail is operated by the US Forest Service instead, so this is not really really their domain. But, they had a trail guide with hikes, MP (Milepost) numbers, and distances. The Ranger also confirmed that our Annual Pass, displayed on the dashboard, would work for the hike and parking in the US Forest Service. The trailhead also had a fee envelop where you can pay there. We also talked to someone who bought the $5 pass at the Visitor Center.

Here we hiked the River Loop Trail, an interpretive trail.

Then we drove a little further east on Hwy 20 (which goes through the park) to Newhalem, which was the preserved previous town. There was a general store, park store with restroom and wifi, a City Light train engine, and some of the power generation equipment here, though I did not as much as I wanted to see. I expected more on the trail. The dams in North Cascades produces a portion of electricity for Seattle. We hiked the Trail of Cedars trail.

We were close to the Gorge Dam, so we stopped here though Travis was eager to get to the campsite. It was not just a pull off but a longer hike, but we did it because I did not realize that it was going to be longer. Look at that pretty turquoise, glacial flour water. They used logs to keep debris from getting into the dam operations. Then a picture of the dam.

We then went to setup camp. We were in Colonial Creek North Campground. This park had the most campground options. I picked based on those without vault toilets. The South Campground version of Colonial Creek was much bigger. We just went in and found our site, and the South had a booth to check-in. We went to a Ranger talk in the amphitheater in the South and found that it was way in the back. This is how we determined that it was bigger. It was also across Hwy 20. We had not allowed enough time to walk.

We had some pretty foxglove at our campsite. Ours was site 24. It looked close to the bathroom when I booked, and there was a trail. However, the trail was quite a climb up and down, so tough in flip flops. Though I went on the road in the dark because I was afraid of bears in the woods. In the morning, I had some tough in flip flops and up and down the hill. This was the only National Park campground on this trip with spigots around the campground (others had filling stations near the bathroom); however, the one closest to us did not have a handle.

There were different big families with many kids by us each night. The second night the kids started getting ready for bed at a reasonable time; though took about an hour to get ready. I heard a Dad yelling about teeth brushing time. I said to Travis, "The earplugs do nothing" -- a Simpson's goggle quote, I believe. I also don't put earplugs in very deep. We had a nice spot; though I would recommend picking one a little further around the road, maybe site 27 or 28, to be closer to the bathroom, closer to a working spigot, and the Colonial Creek runs behind them and you can hear it. There was a bear box at our site, and food and toiletries were allowed in a vehicle. This was the only National Park on this trip which had site specific bear boxes. All allowed vehicles to be used instead.

We then drove further east on Hwy 20 to check out the Ross Lake and Diablo Lake Overlooks. So pretty! And lots of waterfalls in WA that you just come upon.