Deception
Pass Park Foundation
serving those who care about
Deception Pass State Park
Deception Pass separates Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island. Deception Pass State Park is composed of land on both sides of the Pass, on both islands, as well as several smaller islands in the vicinity of the Pass.
The Pass was home to several Indian tribes, including the Swinomish and Samish. The Swinomish probably had a small village site near Cornet Bay, and perhaps along the banks of Cranberry Lake and North Beach. The Samish occupied the northern shores, with longhouses in the Bowman Bay and Rosario areas. Shellfish middens can be found in all of these locations.
For a better understanding of the first peoples in this area, visit the websites of the Samish and Swinomish (see our links page).
Juan de Fuca may have been among the first of the European explorers, allegedly visiting the area in the late 1500’s. He wrote a record of this account when he returned to Europe, which apparently described some of the features of the area.
Serious exploration did not begin until the late 1700’s. Carrasco crossed from the Olympic Peninsula area to present-day Whidbey Island thereby missing Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound beyond, though he did name what he thought had been a bay, Ensenada de Caamano. He continued north up present-day Rosario Strait as far as Fidalgo Island (Carrasco's Boca de Fidalgo, or Boca de Flon, is present-day Deception Pass). Carrasco then headed back to the ship.
Spanish explorer Narvaez of the Eliza Expedition discovered and named Guemes Island and Padilla Bay in 1791. Fidalgo Island is named for Lieut. Salvador Fidalgo who was present in the waters off the shore of Vancouver Island and in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1790; Camano Island bears the name of Lieut. Jacinto Caamano, who was present in northwest waters about the same time. Neither Fidalgo nor Caamano saw the islands that today bear their names. Rosario Strait, a contraction of Gran Canal de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera - a name applied to the present Gulf of Georgia by Eliza in 1791, has lost its original significance.
The English explorer, Captain George Vancouver, entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1792. He spent several months exploring the area. We still use the names he gave to many of the features of the area: Puget Sound, Admiralty Inlet, Mount Rainier, and Mount Baker, for example.
On June 10, 1792, he was anchored off the mouth of what he thought was a substantial river, based on the power of the current. He had named the inner waterway Port Gardner (now called Saratoga Passage), having explored that from the south. Later, one of his small boat crews in command of Master Joseph Whidbey found the western entrance of this passage. Vancouver, feeling that he had been "deceived" as to the nature of his Port Gardner, wrote on his chart "Deception Pass." He also honored his officer, who had found the passage and who had thus disclosed the existence of an island, by calling the large land area “Whidbey Island” (Vancouver's Voyage, second edition, Volume II., page 180.)
Vancouver said, "A very narrow and intricate channel, which, for a considerable distance, was not forty yards in width, and abounded with rocks above and beneath the surface of the water. These impediments, in addition to the great rapidity and irregularity of the tide, rendered the passage navigable only for boats or vessels of very small burthen."
A monument on Pass Island now commemorates this visit of over 200 years ago.
In 1866, the land around the Pass was recognized for its strategic military value in protecting this ‘backdoor’ entrance to Puget Sound. The federal government set aside over a thousand acres on both sides of the pass for a military reservation. This presence led to the naming of Reservation Head (what is now Lighthouse Point) and Reservation Bay (now Bowman Bay). These names can still be seen on older maps.
The only time that the area was fortified was during World War I. At West Beach, a searchlight was mounted on the westernmost point. The concrete foundation of this light is still there, making a great platform and seat for watching sunsets. Gun Point at North Beach was so named for the rapid fire gun established on this rock just west of the bridge.
Seen from the bridge looking northeast are the remains of what was at one time a state prison camp. The prison rock quarry operated from 1910 through 1914, and its nearby barracks housed some 40 prisoners, members of an honors program out of Walla Walla prison.
The prison population was made up of all kinds of prisoners, even murderers. Guards stood at the quarry as the prisoners cut the rock into gravel and loaded onto barges located at the base of the cliff top and the Pass waters. The quarried rock was taken by barge to the Seattle waterfront.
The camp was dismantled in 1924. Although abandoned as a quarry, the remains of the camp can still be found. However, the location is hazardous, and there have been several accidental casualties when visitors venture onto the steep cliffs.
After the First World War, the value of the area to the military was minimal. The land was sold to the State of Washington, and set aside as a state park. Thus Deception Pass State Park had its beginnings in the mid 1920’s.
The park was popular with the growing communities of Anacortes and Oak Harbor, but had no facilities to encourage recreational use other than hiking. The National Park Service created a park master plan in the early Thirties. This plan envisioned a campground near Cranberry Lake, and a foot trail out to West Beach. East Cranberry would be the center of activity, with swimming beaches, docks for strolling over the lake, a bathhouse for changing, and a large parking lot.
In the 1930’s, with the country in a deep economic depression, President Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps to help young men get back on their feet, giving them employable skills and a living wage for their families, and at the same time building parks and growing forests for the future strength of the country.
At Deception Pass, two camps were established, one at Cornet Bay and one at Rosario. Between the two camps, many of the park’s features were built. Kitchen shelters, ranger residences, roadways, trails, restrooms, and the log railings along the highway are some of the significant contributions the CCC gave to the park. Most of these features are still in active use as they were intended, a testament to their durability and craftsmanship.
The development followed the master plan of the park. It was sensitive to the environment and heritage of the area, while encouraging recreational uses that were appropriate for the locations.
The area changed drastically with the opening of the Deception Pass bridge in 1935. Access to Whidbey Island was now a direct highway route. The popularity of this new park grew through the coming years, until it became the busiest single state park property in Washington.
The park expanded occasionally, with additions to the Cornet Bay area, the Ginnett Hill area, land around the Pass Lake in the early 1990’s, the Hoypus Hill and Hoypus Point areas in the 1980’s, and the more recent additions of land north of Bowman Bay in 2002, the Sunrise Resort in 2005, and other scattered locations. For awhile, Heart Lake was also a part of Deception Pass State Park. This area was sold to the city of Anacortes in the late 1990’s, however, for management by the local community, in agreement with the land use plans created by Washington State Parks and the general public.
Bowman Bay was the home of a Washington State Department of Fisheries fish hatchery from the 1950’s to the early 1970’s. The tanks were broken up when the hatchery was no longer cost effective, although the wharf and duplex residence still remain.
All told, the park now covers over 4000 acres (see park maps), and land on nine different islands, including all of Skagit, Hope, Deception, and Strawberry Islands.
Even while hosting well over a million visitors a year, the park can still provide a quiet and peaceful hike or picnic in its more remote and scenic locations. Come explore the park and find your favorite places.