Camano Island Parks Visit

Don't you just love it when at first what sounds like an afternoon of a boringly fast drive to and from somewhere turns out feeling like a mini-vacation by day's end!

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Needing to drive to Tulalip today, once my business was finished, I had the opportunity to tour Camano Island and explore two of their island parks.

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Our first stop, Utsalady Point Park. Located along the Utsalady bluff, this park has a spectacular view of the water and islands. Well maintained with a picnic table and barbeque grill, there is a viewing bench and historical information artfully carved into the board marking the park's entrance.

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Then we set off for the State Park. Camano Island State Park, a 134-acre camping park with 6,700 feet of rocky shoreline and beach, is one of my favorite parks for beauty, serenity and view.

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The park's forest, with its three miles of hiking trails, one mile of biking trails and its interpretive trail is bordered by shoreline wetlands. We had the park almost all to ourselves and enjoyed the sound of one croaking frog as we walked along the marsh. The forest is dense with weathered cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock, spruce, yew, alder, apple, cherry, maple and poplar trees. Signs of early Spring growth were just beginning to show on the daisies, foxgloves, lupines, holly bushes, paintbrush plants, rhododendrons, wild roses, berries, eel grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens.

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I was in awe of the sweeping views of Puget Sound, the islands and distant Olympic Mountains as we walked along the beautiful shoreline, combing the beach and wondering around the many piles of driftwood scattered along our way.

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Madrona trees sprinkled throughout the forest

and along the beach.

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Weathered driftwood patterns found on the beach.

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The slide show of today's photo highlights.

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Directions: Located fourteen miles southwest of Stanwood, Washington. From Interstate 5, take exit 212 and head west onto Highway 532. Three miles west of Stanwood, take a left at fork (now called East Camano Drive and no longer SR 532) and drive approximately six miles on East Camano Drive. At this point East Camano Drive heads left by Windermere. Keep to main road, which is now Elger Bay Road. Turn right onto Mountain View. Travel two miles, climb a steep hill, then turn left onto Lowell Point Road. The road dead-ends at the park entrance.

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History: During the last ice age, the area was covered by an ice sheet approximately one mile thick. The glacier carved the shape of the island with its high "feeder banks" that helped build the beautiful beaches. Native Americans used this area as a camp while fishing and gathering shellfish. The earliest inhabitants of Camano Island were the Kikalos and Snohomish Indians, who used the island for a summer dwelling while gathering seafood and berries. They named it "Kal-lut-chin," meaning "land jutting into a bay." The island was renamed for Jacinto Camano, a Spanish explorer. The first European settlers came to the island in 1855 and began extensive logging operations. Farmers came later and developed the area agriculturally. The land was designated for use as a park in 1949 with the initial park development accomplished in a single day by nearly 900 volunteers from Stanwood and Camano Island. The park celebrated its 50th birthday in July, 1999.

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What a beautiful island!

Thanks for the great tour!

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