Kayaking & Camping
In The San Juan Islands
Night One - The Islander
We planned to camp at Odlin Park, a walk-in campsite on Lopez Island, a small Island located in the Northern part of Washington. The first challenge is getting to the island. The first step is making a semi-early ferry reservation from Anacortes to Lopez. We made our reservation for the 3:30 ferry (make sure you arrive 30 minutes before your reservation!). Our plan had been to show up to Odlin and lock down two campsites for the night. However, once we arrived we quickly realized this wasn’t an option. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the campsite was only operating at half capacity and was unfortunately full.
There is a certain point on every trip where things stop going to plan. This is inevitable. It’s impossible to plan for every single detail and to expect that the trip will play out exactly according to plan. So there’s only one option; make it work! So that’s what we did. We spent the next two hours exploring Lopez and checking out two other campgrounds (unfortunately both were full). We finally were tipped off about a campground called “The Islander”.
The Islander was a small motel-campground just a short drive away from Odlin. Although not as scenic as Odlin Park, we were lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful summer sunset in Washington, a view that never disappoints.
The Plan.
We spent a few weeks planning this trip. There were a lot of variables and we wanted to be sure we had a solid plan and route before we set off on this adventure. Below is an image of the course we plotted verses the course we actually ended up taking.
Initially we plotted the shortest possible distancing figuring we would be pretty spent toward the last few miles, especially as the water grew rougher.
After the first pass across the channel we realized it would be much safer and easier to stay as close to the shore as possible, even if this meant it would add a little more time. There were quite a few boats, and several ferry’s that we had to avoid, so less time on the open water the better. We ended up hugging the shore of the islands staying about 10-20 feet away from the shore at all times. The total time for this paddle was 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Jones Island
Tips
2 Person Kayak’s are essential.
Paul and Tavin took a two person kayak and that was 100% the way to go. It was much easier to navigate, much faster and having two people in the kayak provided for easy conversation during the paddle.
Make reservations before.
This seems very obvious. But even a month and half out the campgrounds were fully booked. I would recommend planning your date first, then monitoring the weather and the tides to see if it will work out. Although we ended up finding a campground, sometimes it doesn’t work out so well. Reserve your campground first!
Bring activities.
We arrived at Jones island pretty early in the afternoon. After setting up camp we explored the small island and then headed back to the campground to relax. We had a deck of cards, but there was a light drizzle so we couldn’t play. In the future, I would recommend water proof cards or another game to pass the time.
Gear
Kayaking Gear
Kayaks (2 person if possible)
2 x 40L Dry Bags
2 x 10L Dry Bags
2 x Life Jackets
5-10 ft rope
Camping Gear
Tent/Tent Poles
Sleeping Pad
lantern
headlamp
jet boil/propane
lighter
flashlight
camel back
knife
hatchet
Food
Potato/ground beef/peppers/onions (Foil Hash Meal)
Wine
Dehydrated Meals
Protein Bars
Trail-mix
Water 5L
S’mores
Instant Coffee
Instant Oatmeal
Bannanas