Cypress Head Trip Report

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We enjoyed a camping trip Cypress Head this weekend. M and I joined another couple for an overnighter to Cypress Island in the San Juans. Our plan was to leave from near the Guemes Island Ferry in Anacortes. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anywhere to park and were forced to go to Washington Park instead. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it put us behind schedule for the currents. We kind of missed the bus so to speak. We wanted to minimize our crossing distance so we followed the shoreline on Fidalgo Island for awhile then crossed over to Guemes. The flood was causing us to drift a bit and we had to dig in and work pretty hard to make it around the point to Yellow bluffs before the current was in our favor. After a short break we crossed over to Cypress using the flood in Bellingham Channel to carry us along toward Cypress Head. The weather was great. Nice and warm and flat calm water. We reached Cypress Head pretty tired and ready to be done.

Cypress Head is a beautiful camp site offered by Department of Natural resources. There is no charge to camp here. The head is a tombolo with a sandbar attaching what seems like two separate islands. There are trails throughout with great views of some of the surrounding islands. I thought that it was early enough in the year that it would be pretty quiet especially on a Friday night instead of Saturday. This was definitely not the case. Every spot was taken and then some by the end of the night. We set up camp enjoyed a nice meal and settled in to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. That is when the party started! Two sailboats had come in and unloaded their load of drunks with enough booze to drown an army. I’m glad they to wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet of the San Juans. They started singing (very badly I might add) and never let up. As the booze flowed the volume of their retched voices kept getting louder and louder. One of them was playing an accordion. I have never been an accordion fan. I find them incredibly annoying under the best circumstances. About midnight I had enough and asked them nicely to tone things down a bit. Now keep in mind every campsite was filled and why they thought everyone else wanted to be a part of their party I don’t understand. My kind request to quiet down (I swear I asked nicely) was rebutted with a nasty request for me to place my flashlight up somewhere that would have made sitting uncomfortable. This was when I lost all patience and Mr. Nice became Mr. Profane. Some members of their group were kind enough to make peace and things got quiet after that, well quieter than it was anyway.

There had been another much larger group of kayakers camped there as well and they left at 5:30am. I’m sure they appreciated the good nights sleep interrupted by the drunks.

The next morning we were able to enjoy a free ride on the currents most of the way back. The weather wasn’t as nice as the day before, but still very pleasant. We saw several porpoises as we crossed Bellingham Channel. It’s always a bonus to see the wildlife. We were forced to take a bit of a break for ferry traffic as there were two ferries coming into Anacortes as we went by Ship Harbor. I am always amazed at how fast these big ships travel. Overall the trip was a nice getaway. Next trip will be Barkley Sound on the west side of Vancouver Island next month.

M waiting for a gap in the ferry traffic

Looking out toward the Cone Islands from Cypress Head

Leaving Cypress Head

Wishing I had an air horn to wake up the drunken sailors early in the morning

A small boat stuck in the brush on Guemes. Do the tides really get this high?

Paddling along Cypress Island