October, 2022
Ok, ok. It’s the end of my camping week here. I have to go home, but I don’t WANT to go home. But ok, I’ll go.
But first, let me share a few more photos with you, ok? 🙂
Here’s where my friends and I were camped at Illahee State Park this past week … what a perfect couple of campsites!
Here’s Finn. He loves me. I miss him already and they left just this morning.
My friends (and Finn, also my friend) hitched up their trailer and headed for home this morning. Then I drove into Bremerton and found that fantastic waterfront park with those fabulous fountains, whoosh! 🙂
Late afternoon, I came back to the Illahee State Park and my lone, little campsite. But then I realized the tide was high right then, a really good high tide. So I scooted off down that switchback road again, down to the parking lot.
I was almost going to write “down to the parking lot and to the beach”. But the tide really was all the way in/high … there was no beach! This was a super high tide. As a boater, I’d learned that super high tides are usually accompanied by very calm water, no wind. That sure was the case this evening.
Photo below … remember the concrete boat ramp that led off into mud when the tide was out/low?
Well, you could launch a boat right now at high tide with no problem at all!
High tide.
So restful, so relaxing.
The same sailboat that was here the other day is still tied to the float off to the left. And that twin engine State Parks boat is still at the dock today as well. And there were lots of people here, fishing, kayaking, talking, enjoying. Everyone was happy and talkative.
So I walked out that long pier (now in the shade of an evening sun, with the trees on the opposite shore in full sunshine yet). Then I walked out onto the float where the State Parks boat and that sailboat were … walked out to the end of that float.
Above … anchored out just to the north of that float was another floating dock, best seen in the 5th photo from the top above, because the sun was shining on it that day. It is well anchored to the bottom, down under water, but it is not connected to the pier or to the float where the boats were. This separate “float” is there to help prevent storm waves from damaging this pier in the winter, with the worst storms almost always coming from the north. That separate “float” has three “signs” on it … each with black and white stripes … placed there to alert winter cruising boats that this separate “float” is there when there might be winter waves splashing over it and hiding it. But today, the water was so calm that it seemed funny to have those signs there.
But then, a moment later, who should fly in and land on top of one of those black/white striped signs … this handsome Belted Kingfisher. He was a beauty! Female and male Belted Kingfishers are identical, except females have a brown or speckled “belt”, where the male has a solid blue belt.
First he thought there might be something in the water, or just on top of the water that might be worth pursuing.
But he gave that up and posed for photos instead.
And then he flew off, fast! Headed to some other place with some other attraction. 🙂
Ah well, it was time for me to head back to the trailer for my evening meal and a good night’s sleep before hitching up and heading home first thing tomorrow morning.
Another great week with super friends. Another great campground (and beach!). Thanks for coming along with me. I really like that all of you are here. Happy trails everyone! 🙂