Patos Island, Washington « THE MAVERICK SERIES by Elaine Seavey

Patos Island, Washington

June 3, 2009

Blog entry June 1, 2009

Our winter was spent in Benson, with no exciting adventures to relate. Now, hot weather has come to the desert, so we are making plans for a summer getaway trip. Most of our time will be spent in one of our favorite places….Mobridge, S.D. relaxing in a lovely campground and hopefully doing some serious walleye fishing! You may read about Mobridge in my 2008 summer travel blog post .

Before we leave, I’d like to refer back to another favorite place, which I wrote about in the fifth book of the Maverick Series.…The Strait Years. I am referring to Patos Island and its historic lighthouse. Located in Georgia Strait, Patos is the most northern of Washington State’s San Juan Islands.

At the time of our visits to Patos Island, we were living in Port Angeles, WA and owned a 30-foot cabin cruiser named “Maverick.” In the book I wrote about many of the lovely places to visit on the Olympic Peninsula, and of the many adventures we experienced on our cruises among the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands.

In 1792, explorers Galliano and Valdez discovered and named this island “Patos”…meaning: “Island of Ducks.” The island is 210 acres in size, and its shoreline caves were popular hideouts for smugglers.

On the western tip of this one mile long island, known as Alden Point, stands the beautiful Patos Island Lighthouse, which became operational in 1893. Other structures once present included two dwellings, cisterns and a boat ramp. In 1908 a 38 foot tower was added to the one remaining building. In 2007 a non profit Keepers of the Patos Light was formed. Along with the US Bureau of Land Management, and the Orcas Fire Department, their purpose is to preserve the beauty of the lighthouse. In 2008 vast renovations took place on both the inside and outside of this historic structure. Patos Island is now a Washington State Marine Park.

One of the best known light keepers on Patos Island was Edward Durgan, who, with his wife and large family, lived at the island lighthouse from 1905 to 1913. One of the most delightful books I have ever read…Light on the Island…was written by Helene Glidden, one of the Durgan children. It is based on her childhood adventures while living on the island during these years.

The following are quotes from my book The Strait Years:

“As we approached the island, a spectacular lighthouse came into view on the very point (Alden Point) of the island. We cruised into Active Cove, which lies between Patos and Little Patos Island. There were only two mooring buoys in the cove, but fortunately both were empty so we moored to one.”

“After getting settled, we launched the dinghy and rowed to the sandy beach at the end of the cove, where there is a primitive campground. From here we hiked a trail through some lovely woods to the lighthouse. Nearing the lighthouse, we spotted several eagles high up in the fir trees, and some soaring overhead. Two trees had nests with baby eagles in them! Arriving at the lighthouse, the sweeping view looking over Boundary Passage and the Canadian Gulf Islands was awesome! Then we followed another path above the water, until we found a spot where we could scramble down to the rocky shoreline. The tide was out, so we meandered along the sandstone ledges, examining the unusual shapes of the rocks and strange little caves created by wind and water over the years.

I couldn’t help but think what a magical fairyland it must have been for the Durgen children when they lived here! Returning to the beach where we had left the dinghy, I found a large shell, and using that, I dug a mess of butter clams, which were the whitest butter clams we have ever found!”

“After lunch we went out in the dinghy again. Rodger dropped me off on the sandy beach and I walked the trail to the lighthouse. I enjoyed exploring the opposite shoreline below the lighthouse consisting of large rocks and huge driftwood, and also the wildflowers in bloom on the grassy hillsides, snapping photos as I walked. Meanwhile, Rodger had rowed to the opening of the cove to fish. When he came to pick me from the rocky shore which we had explored earlier, he had caught five dandy rock cod! That evening we had a great seafood meal of clams and fish!”

Evenings were always a lovely time. We would sit in the cockpit of the Maverick, facing the opening of the cove. The sunsets were gorgeous, turning the water to lovely hues of orange and yellow…and now and then big ships would pass by. All was quiet except the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore, an occasional bird song, and small animals moving about on shore. How fortunate we were!

On another visit to Patos Island: “The wind picked up in the night, so Rodger lengthened our mooring lines so we wouldn’t be banging against the buoy all night. In the middle of the night we heard sharp horn blasts from an old metal boat that had been anchored behind us. His anchor had come loose and the boat had drifted up on the rocks. The wind was too strong to do anything at the time, but in the morning when the tide came in, Rodger went over and towed him off the rocks with the Maverick. The boat owner said he didn’t have any money, but offered us half a can of coffee for our assistance! Of course we refused, and then he left, heading toward Point Roberts, six miles away…his engine ‘put-putting’ away, like the “Little Engine that Could!”

We visited Patos Island several times. Since its location is so far from the other San Juan Islands, it seemed like few people stopped here, and we were always able to find an open mooring buoy. One visit included a hike around the island which almost turned into a disaster, a story too long to tell here, but we did enjoy many hikes on the island, and always caught fish and found clams! All in all…each visit to Patos Island was a beautiful and exciting adventure!