Surrounded
An island almost always implies a view, be it water or land. Whidbey Island has that in spades. It is a bit of a lesser known archipelago in the San Juan Island region of Washington. It can be a destination all its own if you only have time for a short exploration of the area. Closer to Seattle by ferry or car than the rest of its neighboring islands it is big enough for a long weekend's exploration. The view east above of some of the Northern Cascade Range is from near the little town of San deFuca. The tallest is probably Glacier Peak.
Looking southwest out over Oak Harbor, the Olympics seem close but between them and the rest of Whidbey Island (in the midground) is one of the Nation's busiest shipping routes - The Strait of San Juan de Fuca. Not including pleasure craft, almost 5,000 cargo ships a year use the channel.
Mount Baker is the behemoth above, just shy of 11,000 feet. Third highest summit in Washington, this peak saw its first successful climber in 1868. The view from Oak Harbor is to the northwest. Whidbey Island is in the rain shadow of the Olympic and Vancouver Island's mountains. Whidbey gets only 20 inches of rain and very little snow annually.
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