Three Days In The San Juan Islands: Wrapping It Up at Cattle Point And American Camp

You will find Day 1 of our San Juan Island trip here: Three Days In The San Juan Islands: Day 1 And Iceberg Point. As I mentioned on the Day 2 post, I realized while writing it that this was technically a 4 day, 3 night trip. My hubby so rarely takes more than a day off to extend the weekend that I forgot we left on Thursday. Oops! However it is 3 days if you think in terms of a day as 24 hours and we were gone about 72 hours, so I’m not that far off.

Anywho, here are our last 9 hours in the San Juan Islands…

San Juan County Park

We packed up our campsite on Sunday morning around 7am, loading our bikes in anticipation of another ride today to visit Cattle Point and American Camp. It was chilly but the sun promised to warm things up.

We had hoped to see the resident red fox but no such luck today as we pulled out.

Cattle Point

For our ride, we parked on Mullis Street in Friday Harbor across from the Bakery San Juan (just off of Spring Street that leads down to the ferry terminal). Mullis Street would go past the airport and turn into Cattle Point Road, taking us to American Camp and Cattle Point in about 8.5 miles.

I will say here that this was the first time I had ever put directions into my phone and had it indicate that a hill was a hazard if on a bike. As in, a steepness hazard. I knew islands were bad but how bad was it going to be??

These were taken at the time of this post, not while on the island.

Cattle Point Road gains elevation as it makes it way around the base of Mount Finlayson (elev. 295 feet) and although steep is was not the worst climb we had on the island. The views at its crest were expansive and thankfully there were a few kiosks to read while catching our breath.

Most of this area is protected under San Juan Island Historic National Landmark, it was nice to see the kiosk acknowledge that fishing traditions trace back long before the area was colonized.

From the crest it was possible to see the Cattle Point Lighthouse that was our destination, along with possible trails to hike. All I could think was wherever we went down there, we were going to have to come back up!

From the Natural Resources Conservation Area website:

Cattle Point is characterized by low rolling hills with the highest point on Mount Finlayson at 295 feet. The peninsula at Cattle Point, which runs east to west, consists of prairie grassland on the south and mixed coniferous and deciduous forest located to the north of the Mount Finlayson ridge. The point is bounded on the south by the ocean waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates San Juan Island from the Olympic Peninsula. The southern shoreline consists of long gravel beaches broken by rock outcroppings and protected sandy coves. The northern shoreline of Cattle Point is located on Griffin Bay. This area consists of long gravel beaches as well as three temperate marine lagoons.

At the bottom of the hill, after the curve, there was a trailhead with bike racks just before the road went into the trees so we started from there. The trail ran through grasslands and then out onto the sand dunes in about .3 miles. We passed a couple who had been out for the morning with a large set of binoculars hoping to spot whales but had not had any luck, otherwise we didn’t see anyone else.

The terrain the lighthouse sits on is officially a pocket of BLM land.

Gary was not super impressed by this lighthouse but I still thought it looked rather regal with the blue bird sky behind it.

There was a trail that continued past the lighthouse on the south and around to the east that we walked for a short distance, hoping to possibly see some wildlife basking in the sun on the rocky shoreline.

Looking head, there was a structure that looked interesting so we headed back to our bikes and continued on Cattle Point Road to check it out.

This allowed us to put off climbing back north a little longer, this was the view as we walked the trail back to our bikes.

The building turned out to be part of an abandoned radio compass station. It once held the power station and transmitter to help ships sailing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We were also able to learn a little more about the history of Cattle Point and the lighthouse, itself.

It was possible to access the beach below the old radio station but we left this for another day as we also wanted to visit American Camp before heading into town to have lunch and catch the ferry.

American Camp

We had passed the entrance to American Camp on the way to Cattle Point so it was now time to slog back up the hill and down again. This sign sits on the road near the summit of Mount Finlayson.

The parking lot was about .2 miles from the entrance on Cattle Point Road and we arrived at a newly established visitor center (2022) for American Camp. The grounds and outdoor exhibits are open year-round but the visitor center itself is seasonal.

It was hopeful to see how the space strived to combine both the importance of the Coast Salish Peoples when learning about the San Juans, as well as its ecology and how the history of the Pig War has influenced life on the islands.

The Coast Salish People from various tribes in the Puget Sound have donated ceremonial paddles for display.

Outside, the learning continued with a historic timeline.

And, of course, you can’t learn about the Pig War without a bronze statue of the pig that started it all.

Today we think of the San Juan Islands as a getaway from the hustle and bustle but there was a time when it was a thriving traffic hub.

From the visitor’s center, a trail took us down onto the grounds that once held the American Camp (opposed to the English Camp we visited yesterday). A kiosk greeted us with an image of what it once looked like.

Today a few buildings remain, like the laundress quarters that overlooks the water. A trail leaves from here down to the water if so inclined.

What was most interesting is that the other buildings we saw were ones that have been “rescued” from other parts of the island. As to say, after the camp was abandoned the buildings were auctioned off and moved away. Now that they want to preserve the history of the camp, there are those that are trying to hunt them down and return them.

This image holds information about the building on the left above, moved from its location in Friday Harbor after 130 years.

This kiosk shared more information about the farmhouse with the large porch, once the officer’s quarters. It was originally located at Fort Bellingham but was moved to the San Juans because of the Pig War.

Only three buildings are here now when once there were 30 but it is not hard to imagine the hillside once teeming with soldiers.

Friday Harbor

After an hour at American Camp, it was time to ride back to the car in Friday Harbor. We opted for lunch at San Juan Brewing Company and I had the Bacon Blue Cheese Salad with an added grilled chicken breast.

From here we drove down to the ferry terminal and got in line to wait to load. We had enough time to leave the car and walk around the waterfront and check out the aquarium at Spring Street Landing.

Like a kid with his face up against the glass…

Back On The Ferry To Anacortes

Our ferry departed around 3pm and it was time to say good-bye to the islands.

Because this day was officially my birthday it was time for my card and gifts.

Yes, I got an assortment of sardines as one of my gifts. He thought it would be fun to do a sampling, and he was right.

We are looking forward to another visit to the San Juan Islands in the next year, hopefully a bike road trip where we leave our car at the Anacortes ferry terminal. Now that we have an idea of what cycling the islands would entail, it should be an even more adventure-full trip. Of course, if the hubs has his way we will find out how to visit the islands in a canoe or kayak since there are several islands that don’t have ferry service. Who knows what might be next?