Anderson Island

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Report from Kari
1/25/07 – 1/26/07

Waking up to the 6am alarm seemed tragic, until the thought of paddling crept into my groggy head. Today, all that filled my agenda was getting out to the Cascadia Marine Trail site on the southwestern corner of Anderson Island. Not a bad schedule, I smiled to myself as I threw last minute items together. Noah and I set off for the Steilacoom ferry landing for our put in, only to discover the “thick as pea soup” fog that the Sound is so very fond of. This instantly made us lazy. We decided to grab a breakfast of fresh bagels, play some cribbage and wait it out.

Putting onto the water about 9:45am, we were about two hours later than we had planned, but we made it through the moderate chop and stiff breeze coming down from the Narrows and to our lunch stop on Eagle Island in a mere hour and a half. Bald eagles chattered away and rain pattered on our hoods as we sat on a perfect madrona branch seat, analyzing the ripping current between Eagle and Anderson that we would soon navigate.

An hour and a half of lazy, sight-seeing paddling pace, and we made it to our camp. This is one of my very favorite camps in the Puget Sound area, and anticipating return, I had stashed a wine bottle here about eight months ago. After setting up camp, we wanted to hike about and stretch our legs. I was secretly anticipating that first sip of the soon-to-be harvested wine waiting in the bushes. As we hiked up to the stash site, I admit a cuss word or two slipped out as I took in the sight of a monstrous tree that had been taken down by our Christmas wind storms. “Well, my bottle was about there,” I said as I pointed at a spot about nine feet up on the now vertical root system. Kicking the dirt like a pouting child, I was quick to admit defeat. Noah tried to be encouraging, saying that we could probably find it, and then promptly pitched his hand into the mud, screaming, “It's right here!” That first sip never tasted so good. We found two dilapidated chairs on an equally ramshackle porch of an abandoned cabin nearby and enjoyed the finest bottle of $4.99 wine I’ve known.

The night was beautiful: campfire and a fine dutch oven dinner, the moon peeking out occasionally from the quick moving cloud cover and a few brave stars pushing out for ambiance. The campsite sits on a narrow spit, so the water surrounding our tent continually brushed against the shore and made for a peaceful night.

Strong head winds made our journey back a bit of a challenge, but we knew that sandwiches and brews were waiting for us at the Steilacoom Deli. We paddled to just south of Sandy Point on Anderson Island before ferrying across the wind-whipped passage to the south end of Ketron Island, making our way back to the boat launch and up to the welcoming warmth of the deli.

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Camping at the Cascadia Marine Trail site on Anderson Island is by reservation only and limited to Washington Water Trails Association members. For more information, call WWTA at 206.545.9161 or visit www.wwta.org