Kath and I approached Similk Beach under misty skies, with rain threatening. The tide was out, far out, revealing a hidden world: shellfish beds, with clams squirting, crabs scuttling, and gulls hovering above looking for dinner. There was more hidden here than I realized, though. The Skagit River brings trees down to the sea, where the wind and tides pile them up on this beach. We wandered among the driftwood, seeing logs and feathers as natural art, finding piles of shells and detritus, while listening to oystercatchers and seagulls at the waterline and eagles at the tree line. Distant Navy jets rumbled and growled. A lawnmower off in the distance hummed a familiar tune. We followed the beach under a forest canopy, some of which was slipping down the steep hillside where they live a transient life between soil and seashore. We scrambled under trees blooming on this first day of spring. We climbed over fallen trees that were now bleached beach logs; I rode one driftwood branch like a wild horse. The mist enveloped us further. Modern houses on the hillside faded as into a dream; the muted sounds of modern life quieted into unknown voices nearby, and we could hear the rhythmic paddling of a large canoe somewhere out on the waters. As the mists swirled, we smelled woodsmoke drifting along the seashore, blending with the scent of low tide. Several women tended a pile of clams baking in a pit on the beach, and children played among small cabins built with cedar slabs not far above the driftwood. Several other folks were down near the water, using digging sticks to find more clams, gathering them into backpack baskets made of native materials. Everyone wore cedar bark clothing and woven cedar hats. Kath and I walked into the village, smiling at quizzical children, smelling drying fish hanging indoors, marveling at the richness of life, the simplicity and complexity of this community in tune with the land around them. The only sounds were the muffled voices, giggling children, the gentle lapping of waves, and the squawking of wildlife sharing in the bounty exposed at the edge of the sea. The canoe faded out of sight as the paddlers rode south toward Kiket Island. We sat together in this separate peace, seeing an alternate world usually hidden, the one all around us in memories and dreams. This beach has been home to a different way of life for hundreds, even thousands of years. In this foggy shroud of the misty day we glimpsed a life, a story, a history unseen in the bright light of summer sunshine, but still here in the quiet backwaters of our treasured islands. People have made their living along these beaches, both in the past and the present. They’ve inhabited our stories, and we’ve felt them riding the wind when we’re alone on a beach or in these deep, wild, simple places. Chief Seattle predicted that “…soon the white man will fill all the land, while my people are ebbing away like a fast-receding tide. And when the last red man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among white men shall have become a myth, these shores shall still swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe. Our dead never forget the beautiful world that gave them being.” The mist around us faded, and the clouds lifted a little. We saw no one now. Once again, the beach was just a simple beach, modern houses lining the hillsides around us, and a lawn mower humming roughly nearby. We gazed at the land around us, the seashore before us, the sky above, life everywhere yet mostly hidden. But as we walked off the beach, as the tide began to rise, I swear I smelled clams baking and salmon drying, and I heard the rhythm of paddles somewhere off toward Kiket Island. jack Directions: From the Sharp's Corner roundabout on Highway 20 and the Highway 20 spur to Anacortes, go east on 20 a half mile to Christianson Road. Turn right and go one mile to Satterlee Road. Similk Beach is in front of you. Parking is available a quarter mile west.
By Bus: the nearest bus service is to the Park and Ride at March's Point Road and South March Point Road, just over a mile from Similk. By Bike: from Anacortes, take the Tommy Thompson Trail to March's Point Road. Follow that south across Highway 20 where it becomes Christianson Road. Follow the directions above to get to Similk Beach. Christianson Road is narrow but with low-volume traffic; it is gently rolling. Accessibility: the parking area is grass and gravel. The beach access is free of driftwood, but the beach is a mix of mud, gravel, rock, and driftwood. Rules: Similk Beach is private property owned by the Swinomish Tribal Indian Community, and is an actively harvested shellfish beach. Please follow the rules posted at the beach entrance. These include no dogs on the beach, and no hiking on the tidelands more than 100 feet from the driftwood. Historical photos: courtesy of various historical websites, taken around the Salish Sea throughout our history. Other photos: by Jack Hartt and Kath Gold.
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Maribeth Crandell has been a hiking guide in the Pacific NW for over 20 years. She's lived on Whidbey and Fidalgo Island for decades. As a frequent bus rider she easily makes connections between trails and transit. Archives by date
April 2024
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