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A User's Guide to the Cascadia Marine Trail
Story and Photos by Ken Campbell
Wildlife is plentiful, from guillemots to sea lions and, if you are fortunate, perhaps an orca, humpback, or gray whale.
Puget Sound has more than 2,500 miles of shoreline, and each seems made specifically with paddlers in mind. From Olympia to Point Roberts, Shelton to Friday Harbor, there are infinite places to visit, trips to experience, and connections to make from one part of the Sound to another.
For 5000 years (at least), the primary method humans used to transport themselves throughout the area was a small boat, most often a dugout canoe. Native paddlers utilized the intricate waterways of the Sound like a highway, riding the currents to and from villages and fish camps along the bays and inlets. It was a system that worked well for a long time, but as western Washington was settled and ‘developed,’ from the mid-1800s up through the 20th century, the ideas around land use and ownership changed considerably.
In the late 1980s, local sea kayakers came together to address the growing threat of shoreline privatization sweeping Puget Sound. Areas used by paddlers for years sprouted Private Property signs, and the distances between access points were often more than most kayakers could paddle. Without a concerted effort to preserve what remained, the fear was that future generations of kayakers might lose the age-old experience of paddling these waters.
In 1990, these visionaries founded the Washington Water Trails Association and began working with Washington State Parks, port districts and municipalities, private landowners, and county governments, all with the goal of putting together a system of access points and campsites from one end of the Sound to the other. Their vision included the idea of situating campsites five to eight miles apart—a distance compatible with humanpowered travel—making Puget Sound more welcoming to paddlers, opening up possibilities that hadn’t existed since the days of the dugouts.
There’s no other way to look at the venture than as a major success. Today, the Cascadia Marine Trail (CMT) consists of about 60 sites (the total number of spots can change somewhat due to various factors), and every stop along the route is unique. Trail sites are usually located close to the water’s edge, a feature all paddlers highly value. Because they are only open to those arriving by human or wind power, they are campsites you can depend on, even on busy summer weekends. Some require reservations, and others where space is extremely limited (looking at you, Blind Island), but at most of the designated locations, you have a place to stay if there’s room to put up a tent. For paddlers doing overnight and multiday trips along the trail, the result is serious peace of mind.
Each part of Puget Sound has its own distinct feel. South Sound is quieter, with almost all heavy shipping traffic ceasing south of Tacoma. Tidal rise and fall are more of a factor here than it is farther north, and while calm conditions are often the norm, currents can be strong in some places, such as Hammersley Inlet and the Tacoma Narrows.
Further up the chart, where the Seattle megalopolis dominates the eastern shoreline, the western inlets near Bremerton and Poulsbo or the Bainbridge Island shore can be welcome options. However, city paddling is not without its charms, and a passage through the locks from Lake Union to the brine of Salmon Bay is an experience to remember. Further north, you’ll find Deception Pass, the narrow gap between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands. This channel packs the most powerful currents in the region, more like a saltwater river than anything else. Just north of that, Puget Sound transitions to the San Juan Islands, a world-class paddling destination. The CMT sites peppered throughout the archipelago provide the perfect stepping stones for exploration.
With a regional population of 4.3 million and growing, one of the most surprising things about paddling the waters of Puget Sound is the opportunity for solitude. Sure, the area has its share of bustling waterfronts and big-city shorescapes, but it’s not too difficult for any kayaker to find a way past the hustle and bustle. Once you do, an older, more natural rhythm immediately takes over. There are still long stretches of shoreline that remain undeveloped, where it’s not hard to imagine what it once looked like before the neighborhood got so popular. In the marine environment, wildlife is plentiful, from guillemots to sea lions and, if you are fortunate, perhaps an orca, humpback, or gray whale.
The beauty of the Cascadia Marine Trail and the brilliant concept that brought that earlier group of kayakers together is the interconnectedness of it all. It’s possible, after all, to start in Puget Sound and paddle north to Canada, to the Gulf Islands, where the CMT connects with the British Columbia Marine Trail system and on up the Inside Passage and beyond. It’s great to string together a trip from starting point to destination, with a choice of places to camp in between, with the knowledge that each site features designated spots with the paddler’s needs in mind.
The Washington Water Trails Association
The Washington Water Trails Association is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization engaged in monitoring and maintaining the sites and doing shoreline restoration work in many nearby areas. It’s worth becoming a member, not only to help keep the trail up and running but also for the guidebook that you’ll receive along with your membership. A valuable planning tool for your future adventures on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands, the guidebook is packed with specific information on each site on the trail.
More trail and membership info are available online at www.wwta.org
