Today was our last full day on Whidbey Island so we decided to do a little exploring in an attempt to find a place where normal Washingtonians can go to the shore or get a view of anything more than 50 feet from the road. Whidbey Island has nicely built roads but the preponderance of them run through second-growth forests filled with small conifers and big hardwood trees that shade the highway and offer impenetrable brush starting right alongside the ditch.
The day started with Peggy going out for a stroll while I showered. Right before getting into the shower, I looked down on the floor of the trailer and spotted what looked like a small bud of marijuana. I picked it up, set it on my table and headed into the shower. After finishing my contortions in our skinny shower stall, I went back to the main compartment and sat down where I again spotted my bud. I don’t remember the last time I had any buds loose in the trailer and figured the little morsel was a welcome surprise, perhaps rolling out from under one of our easy chairs. I picked it up, admired the rich green color and gave it a little squeeze before sensing that something was awry. Readers of recent blog entries may remember that there are lots of bunnies living in our campground and, after way too much scrutiny, I realized that my bud was actually a broken rabbit pellet. I confess to being a rabbit turd fondler.
After considerable hand washing and table wiping, we climbed into the truck for a spin. The first destination ended up being Peggy’s sister’s house for more saying goodbye despite my belief we were done with that. Soon we were on our way west across Whidbey Island to get on roads that would take us on a loop up to Greenbank on the island’s west coast and back home on the island’s east coast. Our search for public access and/or views to the water was almost a complete failure.
Our first stop was at South Whidbey State Beach. The campground is closed and doesn’t look like it is opening anytime soon. The one trail offering access to the shoreline is also closed. Even the machine that sells you a piece of paper authorizing park use was out of order. The parking lot (and this was the only parking lot we saw today) was empty since all the park’s features were closed. No other public access spots were found on the west shore.
At Greenbank we crossed over the island to the road following the east shore. Almost immediately we found a gravel road between two residences that had one sign that indicated a public access to the shore and another sign mounted directly below the public access sign forbidding any parking. This access slit is not located in a town and there is no place to park anywhere within miles of the access road. We drove the 30 yards to the end of the gravel and found more signs indicating that beachgoers cannot stray from the 15 foot wide path to the water because it is private property. There were no sun worshipers at the cobble-infested skinny patch of mud that was the shoreline.
We finished the loop down to our RV spot, picking up some diesel for tomorrow’s travel off Whidbey Island. Whidbey is a gorgeous place if you own shoreline or hilltop property but the rest of us can just bugger off.
We got some pix of the lack of access you can see if you click here