San Juan Island National Historical Park

Here comes the 9 am Friday Harbor Ferry!  We arrived at the Anacortes Terminal about an hour early to get the first ferry and spend the day on a visit to San Juan Island NHP.  The crossing weaves through   4 islands and takes about an hour.  We have applied for a Sept.-Oct. job there and wanted to check it out.

The view looking back east includes Mount Baker and just south our present home, the North Cascades NP range (still snow capped).  The Ferry Terminal is about 90 miles west of the NP.  On San Juan we were surprised how quickly we left the busy little harbor town and found rolling hills, lakes, farms and meadows.  Our first stop was English Camp where 400 British soldiers lived for 12 years as arbitration for ownership of the San Juan Islands was negotiated.

The English Camp included a school, library and formal garden fenced in beyond the flagpole.  We met a very helpful volunteer host who told us all about working there and directed us on a walk through the 2 campsites on the hill above the old Hospital Building.  No view there, but the grounds along the bay are beautiful as you see.  Lots of sky and grass which I love!

This is the American Camp on the South end of the island.  It also has 2 hosts and sits on a restored prairie on a sunny, dry hillside above the ocean and opposite the Olympic NP mountains.  We got a very distant sighting of Orca whales and a nice long chat with the volunteer here.  We could be very happy at either Camp.  The views, trails and beaches at this end of the island are most awesome!

As luck would have it the Ranger who might hire us is off for 2 days.  We left our card and will call on Thursday.  Terry has always loved islands and I think I could have a little fun here myself!  We'll see.