One Of The Best Island Escapes Near Seattle Is A Perfect Gateway To The San Juan Islands

If you're planning a trip to the San Juan Islands and you're neither a yacht owner nor a plane-chartering billionaire nor a sea kayaker with biceps of steel, then you'll be taking a ferry out of Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island. You wouldn't be the first to zip up from Seattle in the pre-dawn hours to queue up at the ferry terminal, oblivious to your surroundings. While not as unreliable as the ferries in the Greek Isles, there's still a lot of wait time involved. But if you hurry through Fidalgo Island itself, you'll be missing out on some of the most jaw-dropping scenery in Northwest Washington. Like the throw pillow in your RV says, sometimes it's the journey, not the destination, so slow down and smell the juniper.

Fidalgo Island, located about 1.5 hours from Seattle, is separated from the mainland by a canal, but as soon as you cross over on Highway 20, you'll start to get that San Juan Islands vibe. You can see the San Juans from here, like a scattering of rough-cut emeralds cast upon the ocean, sailboats and ferries cruising between them. Whether the skies are blue, or more typically roiling with gray and purple clouds, it's a dramatic view. On the island, Highway 20 forks. Turn right, and you'll find yourself in downtown Anacortes; turn left, and you'll end up at Deception Pass State Park. But don't sweat the decision, because the two roads eventually meet to form a grand loop you can easily complete in a day of sightseeing, after which that crowded ferry ride to the San Juans might even seem like more trouble than it's worth.

Deception Pass State Park straddles both Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island to the south, connected by the graceful Deception Pass Bridge (pictured), which you can walk across to gaze down at the dangerous passage where even experienced boat skippers have been swept into the rocks by treacherous currents. Bowman Bay is a sheltered oasis where you can camp, picnic, and paddle in protected waters with a sandy beach. Take the short hike from Bowman Bay to Rosario Point, and you can really see how the forces of nature have shaped this part of the world, from the jagged island cliffs carved out by the cold, pounding sea to the fir, cedar, and spruce trees swept by the wind into elaborately contorted Bonsai. Then continue on to Rosario Beach to explore tide pools teeming with anemones, starfish, and sea urchins.

From Deception Pass, continue clockwise around the island to Washington Park, a city park that occupies a rugged peninsula jutting out into the Salish Sea. Like Forest Park in Portland, it's a true wilderness within city limits. Here a 2.3-mile one-way loop road is closed to traffic until 10 am so that pedestrians and cyclists can joyfully zoom around in car-free harmony, but after that, it makes for a memorable scenic drive, dipping and looping through rainforest with bluff views over the water of the Olympic Mountain Range — so named because its looming peaks look like a place gods would dwell.

Charming, coastal Anacortes is a favorite boater's haunt, sporting a main drag lined with shops, restaurants, and a pretty marina you can stroll through, smelling the sea air and watching the boats sway in their slips. On the northern end of the marina, there's a short, steep trail you can hike up just 200 feet to the top of Cap Sante, the rocky promontory that protects the marina entrance, for a panoramic view so sweeping you'd swear you're thousands of feet in the air. You can see the snow-capped peaks of the North Cascades National Park from here, and, if you're lucky, the colorful spinnakers of a sailboat race below.

Rent a bike and take the Tommy Thompson Trail, a 3.3-mile, level bike path that starts at the marina and takes you out onto a causeway that crosses Fidalgo Bay. It's built on a former railroad bed and offers cinematic views of the San Juans and Mount Baker. Be on the lookout for seals, herons, eagles, and otters. When you get back to the marina, warm up with a cup of clam chowder at Anthony's while overlooking the harbor.

The far-western side of town is where ferries arrive and depart, so go ahead and get on with your San Juan Islands-hopping adventure. But instead of making that crowded scene, maybe you'll opt for what must be one of the easiest island hops in the world and catch a different ferry to head from downtown Anacortes to rural Guemes Island (pictured). The trip takes a whole eight minutes, and, on the other side, you can grab a pint and locavore burger doused in island-grown mushrooms at the Guemes General Store, mere steps from the ferry dock. There — you've island-hopped!