Northwestern Washington & the San Juan Islands - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 223

Chamber of Commerce ( www.sanjuanisland.org ; 135 Spring St, Friday Harbor; 10am-5pm
Mon-Fri, to 4pm Sat & Sun) Inside a small arcade; a good place to pick up free maps and
other information.
Getting Around
From May to October, San Juan Transit ( www.sanjuantransit.com ) shuttles visitors from
the ferry landing to Roche Harbor, plus points along the West Coast, including Lime Kiln
Point State Park and the English Camp. Buses run hourly between 10am and 6pm
(round-trip $10, day pass $15). Otherwise, call San Juan Taxi ( 360-378-8294) .
Susie's Mopeds (125 Nichols St, Friday Harbor) , just up from the ferry dock, rents electric
bicycles or mopeds for $30/70 per hour/day, 'scoot coupes' (a sort of miniature buggy-
moped hybrid for two people) for $70/150 per hour/day, or Geo Tracker jeeps from $96 a
day.
CASCADIA MARINE TRAIL
On paper it sounds like an oxymoron (unless you've mastered the art of walking on
water), but in practice it's one of the USA's long-distance odysseys.
The Cascadia Marine Trail (CMT) is a 160-mile saltwater sailing/paddling route
starting in Olympia and finishing at the Canadian-US border that links more than
50 specially designated campsites and 30 or more waterside inns in a spectacular
aquatic journey through Washington's sheltered inland seas. Conceived in 1993 by
the Washington Water Trails Association (WWTA), a group of avid kayakers from
the Seattle area, the trail is designed to be used by wind- or human-powered water
craft making use of myriad campsites en route, spaced approximately 5 to 8 miles
apart.
The San Juan Islands make up one of the most popular segments of the trail,
with many of the archipelago's outlying state parks sporting rustic CMT campsites
(maximum capacity 16 people) equipped with landing areas, picnic tables, toilets
(usually 'compost-style') and official CMT signs (the sites are checked regularly by
volunteer stewards). Other popular stop-offs are Whidbey Island, Port Townsend
and Blake Island near Seattle.
For a comprehensive trail guidebook you'll need to become a member of WWTA
( www.wwta.org ) .
In 2000 the CMT was chosen by the White House as one of only 16 'National Mil-
lennium Trails' reflecting 'defining aspects of America's history and culture.'
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