Washington Islands > Page 3a: San Juan Islands

Index to this page: Orcas Island. San Juan Island: Lime Kiln Point State Park , San Juan Island National Historical Park (English Camp, American Camp) , Cattle Point , Friday Harbor , San Juan County Park , wildlife

Back to Page 3, Islands: Whidbey Island

Above right: Native American style artwork of orca whales decorates Orcas Island Ferry Terminal in the San Juan Islands.

Index to Washington: Page 0: Highlights ~ map ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7

Page 1: Seattle Area: Seattle ( fireworks , Space Needle & EMP , University of Washington ) ; Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island

Page 2: North Cascade Mountains: Mount Baker , Mount Shuksan , Sauk Mountain , Anacortes , Grasshopper Pass , Maple Pass , Rainy Pass SR20 , Hidden Lake Lookout , Sahale Arm , 2a: Skagit Valley Tulips
Page 3: Islands: Whidbey Island: Deception Pass , Ebey's Landing , Fort Casey , Meerkerk Gardens , guidebooks

Page 3a (this page): San Juan Islands

Page 4: Mountain Loop Highway: Glacier Peak , Mt Pilchuck , Green Mountain , Gothic Basin , Lake 22 , Walt Bailey Trail , plants, flowers, insects , southern Mt Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest
Page 5: Central Cascades, Highway 2 & Interstate 90: Alpine Lakes Wilderness (mountains, larch, mushrooms) , Surprise Lake , Granite Mt , Lake Serene , Carne Mountain
Page 6: Southwest WA: Mt. Rainier , Goat Rocks , Mt. Adams , Mt. St. Helens
Page 7: Olympic Peninsula: Lavender Farms , Olympic National Park , Port Townsend , ferries , Mount Townsend rhododendrons

The San Juan Islands are a beautiful maritime archipelago of 743 islands (428 at high tide) in the northwest corner of Washington State, USA. Of these, 60 islands are inhabited and four (Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan) are served by Washington State Ferries, sailing from Anacortes, Washington.

San Juan Island

Lime Kiln Point State Park

Left: The Lime Kiln Lighthouse, a name derived from the lime kilns built nearby in the 1860s, was first established in 1914, the last major light established in Washington. The lighthouse was updated five years later with a 38-foot octagonal concrete tower rising from the fog signal building. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was first exhibited from the new tower on June 30, 1919. The Coast Guard automated the Lime Kiln Lighthouse in August 1962, using photoelectric cells to turn the light on at dusk and off during daylight hours. In 1998, the drum lens was replaced with a modern optic, flashing a white light once every 10 seconds. Sitting on the rocky shoreline at a height of 55 feet, the beacon is visible for 17 miles. Lime Kiln Point State Park, San Juan Island, Washington, USA.

Below: Lime Kiln Lighthouse. (I stitched this image from two 18mm wide angle images shot on my Nikon D60.)
San Juan Islands, Washington

Left: A Pacific Madrone or Madrona (Arbutus menziesii), stretches its orange and red branches skyward, on San Juan Island, Washington.

Below: The 1919 Lime Kiln Lighthouse, San Juan Island, Washington.

San Juan Islands, Washington

Left: Red bark peaks from a Pacific Madrone tree at Lime Kiln Point.

Below: Madrona trees frame the 1919 Lime Kiln Lighthouse, San Juan Island, Washington, USA.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Left: Lime Kiln Lighthouse is perched on Haro Strait and the rugged shoreline of San Juan Island, Washington.

Below: Yellow lichen grows on rocks at Lime Kiln Point State Park, San Juan Island, Washington.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Left: Lighthouse and madrona tree at Lime Kiln Point State Park, San Juan Island, Washington.

Below: Red bark of the Pacific Madrone or Madrona (Arbutus menziesii) peals in a pattern to reveal a new orange layer, San Juan Island, Washington.
San Juan Islands, Washington

San Juan Island National Historical Park

The "Pig War" peacefully arbitrated the San Juan Islands into the territorial United States, after a stand-off 1859-1872 between the English Camp and American Camp on San Juan Island. No one was harmed in the Pig Episode (also know as the Pig and Potato War, the San Juan Boundary Dispute or the Northwestern Boundary Dispute), aside from the pig.
Background: The Oregon Treaty of 1846 with Britain gave the United States undisputed possession of the Pacific Northwest south of the 49th parallel, extending the boundary "to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island...." Unfortunately, due to unrefined maps, the 1846 Treaty failed to specify Haro Strait (nearest Vancouver Island) versus Rosario Strait (nearer the mainland) as the boundary channel. Britain insisted that the boundary ran through Rosario Strait, but the Americans proclaimed it lay through Haro Strait. The San Juan Islands lay between the disputed channels, and both sides claimed the right to settle. The crisis escalated to an international incident on June 15, 1859 when American settler Lyman Cutlar shot and killed a pig belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company of Britain, because the pig had repeatedly rooted in his garden.

English Camp

Left: A very old Big Leaf Maple reflects in a puddle at English Camp, San Juan Island National Historic Park, Washington.

Below: English Camp is accessible via boat dock on Garrison Bay, or highway via ferry, in San Juan Island National Historic Park.

Below: English Camp on Garrison Bay, San Juan Island National Historic Park.

Left: English Garden and Guard House, English Camp, Garrison Bay, San Juan Island National Historic Park, Washington.

Below: The second story of the Guard House is mostly authentic, but the lower part has been rebuilt several times due to tidal weathering, at English Camp, Garrison Bay, San Juan Island National Historic Park.

Left: We hike the nice one-mile loop trail along Garrison Bay at English Camp, in San Juan Island National Historic Park.

American Camp

Below: The whitewashed Officers Quarters stands at American Camp (1859), in San Juan Island National Historical Park, Washington.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Cattle Point

Left: On San Juan Island, Washington, Cattle Point Light is surrounded by grazing land that was once a Hudson's Bay Company cattle and sheep ranch, with views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains and surrounding islands. Erected in 1935, this modern lighthouse received a makeover in 1984 when it was used in an Exxon television commercial.

Below: Erratic boulders and yellow lichen now cover rocks formerly under 3000 feet of ice from the Vashon Glacial advance 15,000 years ago during the last ice age. 13,000 years ago, the glaciers retreated and seawater filled the ice-carved valley, creating a fjord that we now call Puget Sound.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Below: Houses crowd towards the beach at Cattle Point, on San Juan Island, Washington.

Friday Harbor

Left: Public benches at Friday Harbor Ferry Terminal, San Juan Island, Washington.

Below: The rusty Hyak, Washington State Ferry, at Friday Harbor Terminal, San Juan Island, Washington.
San Juan Islands, Washington

San Juan County Park

Left: Bull kelp floats in Small Pox Bay on Haro Strait, in San Juan Island County Park, Washington, USA.

Below: A cozy beach on Haro Strait, in San Juan Island County Park.

Left: The original homestead cabin still stands and grows moss at San Juan Island County Park, on Haro Strait, Washington, USA.

Below: Driftwood makes a cross in the San Juan Islands.

Wildlife

Left: Sparrow, San Juan Island, Washington

Below: Cormorants fly over Harney Channel, between the San Juan Islands, Washington, USA

Left: Oystercatcher (family Haematopodidae, genus, Haematopus). Lime Kiln Point State Park, San Juan Island, Washington, USA

Below: A deer, at American Camp, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Washington.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Below: A fawn, at American Camp, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Washington.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Orcas Island

Left: Native American style artwork of orca whales decorates Orcas Island Terminal for Washington State Ferries, Harney Channel, San Juan Islands.

Below: Orcas Island Terminal for Washington State Ferries, Harney Channel, San Juan Islands.
San Juan Islands, Washington

Above: The slope of Mount Baker (far left) and snowy peaks of the Twin Sisters Range in Mount Baker Wilderness are seen from a San Juan Islands ferry in Rosario Strait. (I stitched this panorama from two images.)

Washington Map:

Washington Islands > Page 3a: San Juan Islands

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Index to Washington: Page 0: Highlights ~ map ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7

Page 1: Seattle Area: Seattle ( fireworks , Space Needle & EMP , University of Washington ) ; Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island

Page 2: North Cascade Mountains: Mount Baker , Mount Shuksan , Sauk Mountain , Anacortes , Grasshopper Pass , Maple Pass , Rainy Pass SR20 , Hidden Lake Lookout , Sahale Arm , 2a: Skagit Valley Tulips
Page 3: Islands: Whidbey Island: Deception Pass , Ebey's Landing , Fort Casey , Meerkerk Gardens , guidebooks

Page 3a (this page): San Juan Islands

Page 4: Mountain Loop Highway: Glacier Peak , Mt Pilchuck , Green Mountain , Gothic Basin , Lake 22 , Walt Bailey Trail , plants, flowers, insects , southern Mt Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest
Page 5: Central Cascades, Highway 2 & Interstate 90: Alpine Lakes Wilderness (mountains, larch, mushrooms) , Surprise Lake , Granite Mt , Lake Serene , Carne Mountain
Page 6: Southwest WA: Mt. Rainier , Goat Rocks , Mt. Adams , Mt. St. Helens
Page 7: Olympic Peninsula: Lavender Farms , Olympic National Park , Port Townsend , ferries , Mount Townsend rhododendrons