What we have today is not what has always been, nor what will be in the future. The youth among us only know what they see today, crowded highways, sprawling towns and subdivisions, a culture mostly separated from nature, as we gaze 18 inches into a screen. Many of us are old enough to remember how Whidbey and Fidalgo used to be 60 years ago. We are not yet old enough to remember what it was like 600 years ago. Our native elders do from the stories they heard from their ancestors. Bowman Bay was home to many. The bay offered safe waters to launch hand-made canoes out into the nearby fishing grounds. Fresh water flowed from the lake in winter. Berries and bulbs grew on the headlands. Then European diseases diminished the population by perhaps 90%. The federal government reserved Reservation Head on this side of the pass for a future fort. State Parks changed the bayside area into a campground. CCC enrollees built trails onto Reservation Head, and a little footbridge over the wetland at the south end of the bay. Then the Fisheries Department changed the wetlands into a fish hatchery, and put a pier, a rockery, fish tanks and buildings where there once was beach and nearshore habitat, where canoes once rested after a day of fishing. I came here with my family sixty-plus years ago and walked among the fish tanks, above the rocks, and along the pier. I came back in the early Seventies and walked among the ruins of the tanks, now a rough parking lot, but with the pier and riprap still at the water’s edge. That changed in 2015, when the beach became a beach again. Today, driftwood has returned. Fish eggs are again found among the sand and gravel. Families build driftwood forts and skip rocks and stroll the seashore at sunset. I close my eyes and envision tribal members launching out to find salmon. I open my eyes and a paddleboarder returns to shore, kneels and steps ashore. I hike past the pier, closed because of storm damage, and stroll down the Lighthouse Point trail first built by the CCC. The footbridge across the wetland has been replaced over the years, but it’s in the same place, doing the same thing. The trail climbs the bluff and goes past a handrail built by volunteers around 2007. Then it drops down to the soft sand of Lottie Bay before sneaking onto the backside of Reservation Head. The views open up on the south side, first of the bridge getting sandblasted to be painted, then of the entrance to the Pass, then out to the Straits toward the ocean. I came to the little pocket cove as a teenager during spring break, and watched the sun rise as I snacked on Toblerone and soybeans. The cove looks the same to me now, the trails gentle on the land, the air rich with the smells of the sea, the sound of the waters quiet and constant as the water flows by. I walk to the view of Lighthouse Point, then out to Reservation Head to watch the sun go down once again, as it has for millennia, putting Rosario Head into silhouette and the day into dusk. The world around us is changing daily. Our lives become comfortable with our riches, but our planet is becoming impoverished for what truly sustains us: clean air, clear water, healthy plants and animals, stable temperatures, and balanced use. We have protected places like Lighthouse Point, like many of our trails close to home, that showcase how it used to be, how it can be. These trails lead us as visitors through the wildlands, through the homes of other life forms who struggle to share this planet with us. And in our visits we remember what we have lost. And work harder when we get home for the future of us all. jack Directions: from the Deception Pass bridge, go north, turn left at Rosario Road, and another left quickly onto Bowman Bay Road. At the 'T' take a left which leads to the Bowman Bay parking area. The trail begins on the southwest side of the parking lot. Parking pass required.
Transit Access: Not accessible by transit. Physical Accessibility: the gravel trail from the parking area goes about a quarter mile flat, level, and wide. Then it climbs steeply to get past the first bluff. Bike access: Highway 20 and Rosario Road are both high speed and high volume with minimal shoulders. I do not feel safe riding in this area.
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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
March 2024
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