Kayaking to Goat Island, an Almost Forgotten Military Relic

As if we weren’t exhausted from our ride-and-carry mountain biking excursion to Monte Cristo Ghost Town yesterday, we got it into our heads that paddling a couple miles in the ocean wouldn’t be that much of a challenge for our already tired limbs.

Actually, it was. Ha ha haaaaa…. Turns out, kayaking 3.25 miles out against the ocean’s incoming tide is very tiring. 😆

We started the day’s adventure at La Conner Kayak and rented an excellent tandem sea kayak from Bob. We’ve kayaked many times and kayaking is actually my absolute favorite, but we’ve never been on our own (without a guide) in the ocean. Bob gave us some really important tips on handling boat wakes, where to head out to, and some tips on spots we might enjoy. Thanks Bob!

The distance to Goat Island is approximately 3.15 – 3.3 miles, give or take all the zig and zagging. 😉

Since we were paddling against the tide, we had to paddle extra hard, which required quite a few rest stops for our tired arms.

The route to Goat island from La Conner passes along Shelter Bay, where there’s a lot of leisure boating activity. While a portion of that is a No Wake Zone, once you’ve paddled past that section, most boats passing by will leave a wake –which has the potential to flip the kayak. Paddle head on against the wake and you will be fine.

Goat Island within sight.

The closer we got to Goat Island, the more wildlife we saw. There were Harbour Seals everywhere we looked, curiously popping their heads out of the water. We managed to paddle right up to this Bald Eagle before he flew away.

As the map above indicated, we paddled to the south side of Goat Island where there is a small beach for landing.

The beach is covered in broken shells.

We pulled our kayak as far off the shore as we could, next to a hidden cliff trail with a rope dangling alongside it.

We used the rope to hoist ourselves up to the top of the island.

View from the top, just after the climb.

We bush wacked our way through the forest until we came upon a clearing.

This almost forgotten fort was built in 1909 and finished in 1911. Positioned to guard the Deception Pass and Saratoga Pass entrances into Puget Sound, it is part of the Harbor Defense of Puget Sound.

(Our trip reports to other forts of the Harbor Defense of Puget Sound: Fort Flagler, Fort Casey, Fort Worden, & Camp Hayden)

Much of the fort has been taken over by the forest growth and unfortunately, graffiti.

At the time, we were the only ones on the island, however, you can definitely tell quite a few jackasses have visited.

Here’s one now! JK JK

After exploring the fort, we decided to see what else was on the island. Much of it is overgrown and requires bushwacking.

Aaaaaand we’re done.

Back we go. 😆

As we were getting ready to climb back down to the beach, we heard quite a bit of commotion down below. We peeked over the edge and spotted sea otters fighting over a crab. They were quite vocal about who was going to keep the crab. I’m sure the crab didn’t appreciate it. It probably made him very crabby.

Paddling back to La Conner was much easier as we had the tide going with us this time. It gave us extra time to watch the Harbour Seals.

We even spotted a heron along one of the beaches we paddled by.

Success!! Crossing another one off our Washington State Bucketlist! We have been talking about doing this adventure for a few years, trying to figure out if it was possible. We really appreciate Bob’s La Conner Kayak business for making it possible! We’d love to do it again next summer.

After returning our kayaks to Bob at La Conner Kayak and wiping down all the sea salt that had accumulated on our faces and limbs, we headed into cute downtown La Conner for lunch and a stop into our favorite antique shop there.

And of course, no summer trip in Washington is complete without farm fresh ice cream from Snow Goose Produce on the way home! …even if we did just indulge in farm fresh ice cream from Cascadian Farms Organic. 😉