Trip Report
Flatwater Packraft - Leque Island Wildlife Area
Beautiful afternoon paddle around, and over Leque Island, with 6 of us in the packrafts. We saw a lot of birds, and a seal, and managed to be back in time to watch the last bit of sunset from the parking lot.
Ricardo Martin
- Sun, Oct 29, 2023
- Flatwater Packraft - Leque Island Wildlife Area
- Camano Island
- Packrafting
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Easy paddle. Water was flowing south on the channel by the parking lot during the flood. We found some flats that and had to get out of the boat. Route is very dependent on tide conditions!
We started paddling north from the parking lot against the current and light wind, the current was mildly strong but doable. At one time, we stopped and thought we heard the highway, except it was the myriad birds in the surrounding wetlands. Once we reached the northern end of the island, we found the main west channel, and started heading south pushed by the current. We quickly veered off into a smaller channel as an exploration, and a bit later decided to get out on land and walk over to a bigger channel closer to the main.
We crossed under the highway again and got into a very tight channel where the water was flowing fast. We went by some hunters that did not seem very happy about us scaring away all the waterfowl. To make it worst, it was very shallow and we had to walk the boats from there. An unlucky traveller (me) lost their shoe in the mud, but luckily was able to find it! We continued to the southern end of the island, this time fighting the current again. Standing on the breached dike, the view of Mt Baker to one side, and of the sunset to the other was spectacular. We finally paddle back to the car, making it about 4.5 miles in a bit less than 3 hours. The light was superb.
