Scouts Kayak for Badges

By HOWARD GOULD Special to the Palisadian-Post Over 50 boy scouts from Troop 23 (based at Palisades Methodist Church), under the guidance of Scoutmaster John Wilson, recently returned from a five-day, four-night kayaking trip in Seattle to fulfill their summer ‘high adventure’ as they work towards becoming Eagle scouts. Most of the Troop consists of Palisadians who attend Paul Revere Middle School, Palisades High, Pilgrim School, Lighthouse School and, in the fall, Rennaisance Academy. These scouts all spent the two previous summers at the Boy Scout camp on Catalina Island at Emerald Bay. The troop spent two days in Seattle visiting the Pacific Science Center, the Experience Music Project, the Space Needle, Bill Speir’s Underground Tour, Pioneer Square and the Pike Street Market and the Museum of Flying with Air Force One and the Concorde. After Seattle, the boys traveled to Anacortes and took the ferry to Friday Harbor, where they camped at Lakedale Campground and packed their dry bags in preparation for kayaking. In all, they kayaked about 35 miles over four days and, on the off day, hiked five miles. The first day was a send off from Jackson Beach with a landing on Turn Island for lunch. Passing across Friday Harbor with its many ferries, yachts and sailboats entering and exiting, Troop 23 then crossed over toward Shaw Island and by the Wasp Islands to Jones Island, a nature preserve where it camped for two nights. The second day saw the troop paddling around Jones Island and across open waters to the northeast side of San Juan Island to investigate tide pools and work on individual paddling and group interactions on the water. The boys returned to Jones Island for the night. Day three was a long paddle through the Speiden Channel and around Speiden Island to Reid Harbor on Stuart Island, the northernmost land in the continental United States. The fourth day included a five-mile hike to the lighthouse at the northernmost point of the island with a view across the water to Canada. Rising at 5 a.m. on the fifth day for a 6:30 departure (in order to miss the peak tides on an exciting paddle to Henry Island), Troop 23 then paddled down the Haro Strait with a view out to the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Ocean-going vessels, including huge cargo ships, entered Puget Sound right in front of them. After packing away the kayaks and gear, and after lunching on a high promontory above Smallpox Bay, the boys were treated to a glorious send-off as a pod of Orca whales headed north along the coast, playfully breeching and cavorting as they swam the same channel the troop had just paddled. Each day, scouts took turns guiding the group along the course by selecting appropriate points of bearing. They learned to take into account the ebb and flood tides which dominate Puget Sound and dictate the direction for each segment of the trip. The scouts also learned to use proper formation as they crossed open stretches to minimize their exposure to larger vessels and to navigate the waves and boat wakes rocking their kayaks on the open water. Editor’s Note: The author serves as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 23.