Smoketember

The plan was to spend the night in Seattle, have fun watching a friend’s band play, and then set out for a weekend of visiting more parks in the San Juans, ideally to use my kayak to visit a couple of the marine state parks.

When I left on Friday morning to go to work in Seattle, there were some signs that things might not go to plan.

The First Sign of Trouble · Ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seatlte, Washington

I had a good day at work and a great time watching my friend’s band:

Funky 2 Death at the Seamonster · Seamonster Lounge, Seattle, Washington

This morning, I left Seattle and headed to the San Juans.

My plan was to walk on to the ferry to Orcas Island and use taxis to get to/from the two state parks on the island, but I was feeling nervous about how that plan would work out. At the last moment, I decided instead to go to Guemes Island, which is accessible via a short ferry ride directly from Anacortes.

Guemes Island Ferry Terminal, Anacortes, Washington

I was a bit into my exploration of Guemes Island and scouting out some possible kayak launch sites when I noticed the smoke was taking over the sky:

North Beach, Young County Park, Guemes Island, Washington

Things got smokier and smokier by the minute. Not even an hour after the previous shot, I captured this while in line waiting to return from Guemes Island to Anacortes:

Guemes Island, Washington

Conditions deteriorated quickly from there and I decided to scrap my plans for the rest of the weekend and head home.

These last two images were from the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston near the end of my journey.

Ferry from Edmonds to Kingston, Washington

Ferry from Edmonds to Kingston, Washington