- Deception Pass Park Brochure.pdf (parks.wa.gov)
With dramatic headlands, tranquil forests, windswept beaches and quiet meadows, Deception Pass State Park captures your imagination and invites your exploration. Spanning the tips of Whidbey and Fidalgo islands, the park is treasured for its spectacular scenery, rich history and diverse recreational opportunities. Visitors may enjoy fishing, hiking, camping, swimming, boating, photography, beach exploration, scuba diving, learning or simply relaxing.
- I was obliged to discharge the guide I had obtained at New York [Alki], as I had found him gambling in the Suqualmish camp and he had shown himself worthless in other respects. An Indian loitered about our camp for two days, offering to inform against the murderer of [Judah] Church, if he were paid for it. I put him off, and on the evening of the 29th, Hancock came over from Port Townsend and told me that the Indians had told him that one Sla-kai, a Skagit Indian, had killed Church. The next day [May 30, 1853] a man named Martin Tafster agreed to get the Indian if the matter were kept quiet. So I decided to visit Dungeness and return on the east side of Whidby island through Deception passage, where it was said that the Indian could be found.
- June 5th [of 1853]. We sailed across the Straits of Fuca heading for the north end of Whidby island, where we expected to go through Deception passage. The wind carried us within a few miles of Deception pass and then died away, so that we were obliged to resort to the oars. The tide being at its ebb, the guide said it was impossible to get through, so we went into camp in a small cove north of the entrance…Deception pass is a narrow channel between Whidby and Fidalgo islands. Its existence is connected with fearful stories of whirlpools and eddies, and it is only at the flood or ebb of the tide, when the waters are said to be quiet, that it is possible to go through with any safety.
- Deception Pass (gravelbeach.blogspot.com)
Much of Puget Sound is nothing but Pleistocene - with Vashon glacial deposits on the surface and older glacial and interglacial sediments peaking out from the lower portions of some of the bluffs. But at Rocky Point, on the west side of Whidbey Island, and in Skagit Bay, the Mesozoic re-emerges from the basement to form rocky islands and headlands.
- Deception Pass (wa100.dnr.wa.gov)
At Deception Pass in northwestern Washington, an elegant, arching, steel structure spans a crystal-blue strait flanked by craggy knobs of rock. The bridge here connects Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands along State Route 20 and is one of the most photographed bridges in the State. The land on both sides of the pass belongs to Deception Pass State Park, where you can camp, paddle, hike the rugged shores, or hunt for critters in the tide pools. The rocks exposed here are clearly the centerpiece of the park’s beauty. These rocks tell a story that spans millions of years, starting with their formation on the ocean floor and followed by the arrival of the ice age glaciers which slowly carved their mark into the landscape. The rocks here continue to evolve as the natural forces of wind and water etch patterns onto the exposed surfaces of the dark lavas.
Washington Trails Association
- Deception Pass State Park - Headlands / Rosario Head / Lighthouse Point (wta.org)
On your next trip to Deception Pass State Park, don’t cross over the Deception Pass bridge. Instead, take the road down to Bowman Bay for some fine hiking along the rugged cliffs. Great views of the bridge over Deception and Canoe Pass, calm Lottie Bay, a woodland walk through hemlock, fir and Pacific Madrone, plus the legend of the Maiden of Deception Pass are what await you here.
- Deception Pass (Wikipedia)
Deception Pass (Lushootseed: sčudᶻ) (Samish: Xwchsónges) is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bridges known collectively as Deception Pass Bridge cross Deception Pass. The bridges were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
