Editor’s note: The distance from Lake Washington to Blake Island is somewhat less than Ushant to Scilly, but who can resist a rousing sea chantey? See all the photos in the Gimlet Gallery.
Seattle sits on a lot of water. Because of that, occasionally normal folks are able to access boats and water. Thing One and I went to Blake Island each year with our Cub Scout pack and had a wonderful time. When the opportunity came to enlist the use of a friendly Scouting supporter’s boat, we jumped at the chance to take the Boy Scouts to Blake Island. We planned the trip at the 
beginning of the summer. When Grandma had her heart attack, I thought Thing One and I were going to have to miss this trip because it looked like the funeral would be on Saturday. But, with the funeral on Wednesday the 24th we were able to make this trip on Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20.
We arrived at the home of our benefactor and captain on the shore of Lake Washington and loaded up the boat with equipment and food. The boat was a 45 foot cabin cruiser. We left his dock and then went north in Lake Washington and under the west high rise on the 520 floating bridge. I drive this bridge every day for work and enjoyed looking at the traffic on the bridge from the water for once. Once you are at the bridge, the law requires the boat go wakeless. This meant we traveled only 7 knots through the ship canal.
The ship canal runs from Lake Washington into the Puget Sound. We went past Husky Stadium and the University of Washington. Union Bay and Lake Union have quite a few houseboats; the boys enjoyed spotting the “Sleepless in Seattle” houseboat. Once past Lake Union the canal is rather narrow through the Fremont neighborhood and then widens out in Ballard where the Seattle fishing fleet is parked. With the decline in the fisheries, the number of fishing boats sitting seems enormous.
Finally we reached the Ballard Locks. It can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to get through the locks We took closer to 2 hours to get through. The Ballard Locks move the boats down from the level of Lake Washington to the Sound. Normally the drop is substantial, but we managed to hit high tide both going and coming back. Other than the barge that followed us through the locks, (it was substantially larger than we were) our boat was the largest to enter the locks on our way out. Working boats enter first, then touring boats, and finally pleasure craft, largest to smallest. One other adult on the trip and I managed the lines at the locks while our captain ran the engines.
We got through the locks just after the sun had set and had a 45 minute run through Elliot Bay to get to Blake Island. At one point our captain and I were a bit confused as to where Blake Island was in the dark. A quick look at the chart showed that a line sighting the Space Needle off of Alki Point would point directly to Blake Island. To paraphrase Daniel Boone: “We were never lost, but we were a mite bewildered…” We pulled into the dock and the State Park Ranger used his flashlight to direct us into a place on the dock. We were grateful for his assistance and him allowing us to dock on the short term dock overnight.
We set up our tents and then set a campfire. I walked down the beach and ran into friends from Thing One’s Cub Scout Pack who were the father-son advance team for the 70 boys who would arrive Saturday morning. Good friends from the neighborhood.
My troop’s boys decided to roast marshmallows and then a couple of the boys decided to see how many they could stuff in their mouths. (Thing One participated, as you can see.) We then went to bed and I looked forward to the magnificent views we would be able to see of Seattle, the Sound, and the Olympic Mountains to the west, and Mount Rainer to the Southeast.
We awoke to rain! No views for this group. I set the stove up in one of the shelters and we cooked breakfast. Our boys played catch with a football after breakfast, and we hoped the rain would let up enough to dry out the tents before we had to pack them up. Thing One looked for shells rather than throw the football. Finally the rain got to us and we packed ourselves into the boat and began the return home. The water was smooth as could be on the Sound, but the fog kept us from seeing Seattle. This trip through the locks only had one working boat, but the pleasure boats that came through were nearly all larger than ours. We tied up alongside a 75 foot boat with stabilizers and a bulbous bow. For a pleasure craft, it was something else. Run by a husband and wife, it sounded like they had just come down from Alaska. (I looked in one porthole and could see the galley had granite countertops.)
After returning through the locks, we were 45 minutes from our dock and then the drive home. It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it immensely. The boys in the troop seemed to enjoy each other’s company by the end of the trip and seemed to have a good time. I regret that the rain stopped them from seeing how magnificent the views and location were. Hopefully we can do this again next year on a nicer weekend.
While driving home from the boat trip Thing One and I realized that we now had to get ready for the drive to Logan the following Sunday.
Tags:
scout outings
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