Road trip to Orcas Island!
Under the guise of going somewhere beautiful over Labor Day weekend, Shawn and I managed to dupe (I mean, suggest to) our significant others that we should go camping out on Orcas Island. Clothing-optional hippie hot tubs aside, we had a great time. Aside from the little kids almost everyone else at the park was from out of town. Some Seattle Sleestakers were there, as well as the Skatepark Guide crew from Socal, a couple of guys from Chicago, more Portlanders like ourselves and mysterious Corvalis Oregon residents with ties to Brand X skateboards. Joining the Skatepark Guide crew was Scum rider and recent Oregon Trifecta winner Benji Galloway as well as his fellow Scum of the board, Josh “Screech” Sandoval.
The Skate Park: The park is a blast. Hips abound and lines are immediately obvious. It’s doughnut shaped with a slightly sloping flat that ends in waterfalls in one deep corner. Like most interesting parks nowadays, it’s got at least one little oddball feature to give it some more character. In this case it is an extension with a hollowed out roll in built on the back that ends flush with the other side of the island. Another highlight is the racetrack on the outside perimeter that can be worked like a mini snake run, making this one of the very few bowl oriented parks with a surrounding area that is actually fun to skate. There is also a grindable (in theory) ledge over the short gated door.
The Island: Orcas Island is home to your
usual rural tourist type attractions as well as nature stuff like hiking, waterfalls,
tours for
whale watching and
the Washington State Hippie Preserve. The cute lady at the Orcas Island historical
Society told that the island’s deer population all got there by swimming,
but I don’t know if I buy that. Moran State Park offers slightly better
than parking lot style camping or you can Hike in without amenities. There
are also a couple of resort-type places that offer everything from camp sites
and cabins to Yurts, which is hippie talk for a round tent on a platform.
You can buy organic fruits, crafty crap, lefty t-shirts, etc. You can go
kayaking,
rent really expensive and goofy looking scooters or even take a ride in a
biplane. The island is also home to the
The Drive: The drive is worth it, but watch out for the speed trap once you get off of I-5, right before you get to Anacortes. The cops were set up to radar with a long sweeping view of a downhill. They were nabbing people left and right, including one of our crew.
The Ferry: The ferry is not cheap. $40 a car for two people. Round trip. You’ll need to get there early to make it. Think two hours early, especially on the return trip because they fill up fast I believe they give priority to commercial traffic.
The Bottom Line: The lsland is relaxed, the park is great and the locals and road trippers are friendly. Highly recommended as a purely skate destination or as a way to sneak in a killer park for those with family or non-skaters in tow.
Thanks to everyone we met, including Larry the Viking and the Sleestakkers who gave us directions to the Ballard Bowl, which we hit on our way home o Portland.
- kilwag -