Island Paddlers: Neah Bay Getaway

Living on the most eastern of the San Juan archipelago islands, Fidalgo island, the variety of trip & training paddle routes from here are endless. While strong currents do exist in nearly every channel surrounding our island shores, learning how to use these currents to travel in the back eddies, the mid-channel-river-like 'green tongue', along with harnessing the strength of the winds (with kayak sails), is what paddling the San Juans is all about to us... Efficiency. Speed. Using what Nature offers to help us achieve our paddling (distance travelling & racing speed) goals. Which sometimes mandates a combination of styles & skills from river and sea kayaking mixed in with occasional surfing and sailing. Adreline rushes. Personal Speed Records. Risk-taking. Innovation. ~Paddle the Islands and let Nature Inspire.~

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Neah Bay Getaway

For Valentine's Day weekend, we spent 4 blissful nights

in the tiny seaside village of Seiku, WA

out on the very most NW point of the Olympic Peninsula.

...Just 2 months after requiring 2 back-to-back spinal surgeries from a paddling injury,

I was super-stoked to reach my first recovery goal-

of being able to hike (slowly & carefully but still:)

our favorite remote Olympic coastal trails~

*Which Backpacker Magazine rates among some of the top 10 trails of the United States!

~On our 3rd annual Winter Neah Bay Getaway,

... we go out there to escape onto the trails

and enjoy all of the remote coastal vantage points like the

Cape Flattery trail ( 1 mile r/t),

the Shi Shi Beach trail (6 mi's r/t)

and the Ozette-Cape Alava-

to Sand Point- and return to Lake Ozette (10 miles r/t)

...While Jim was super-stoked to play a bit

in the giant surf at Hoback Beach!~

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