Blake Island Jogged a Memory

We didn’t linger too long in Bremerton after the Ranger Tugs Rendezvous because we had a really interesting cruise planned for today. We said our goodbyes to new boating friends and shoved off the dock late morning.

Just around the corner from Bremerton sits Blake Island, a 476-acre Washington State Park which lies in Puget Sound approximately eight miles from downtown Seattle. This Island, with its five miles of beach shoreline and magnificent views of the Olympic Mountains and Seattle skyline, is only accessible by boat.  The island was an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish Indian tribe. Later, it was logged and eventually sold to William Trimble and his family. After a family tragedy and years of neglect, the property became a marine state park in 1959.

Tillicum Village was built on 5 acres of the 475-acre state park and opened in 1962. Today, the Island has thousands of visitors who come to Tillicum for the world-famous salmon bake and show or to camp, hike, and explore the vast wildlife and beautiful beaches of this fascinating island.

Today you can camp and stay overnight on the island, or just come for the day with a visit to Tillicum Village.  Accessible only by boat, it’s the only state park of its kind south of the San Juan Islands.

It wasn’t until we’d walked through the interior part of the island and came back around the other side and we came upon this Indian building and stood on its porch that I remembered I’d been here before, over 30 years ago. I had lived in Seattle in the mid to late seventies and had taken the ferry boat over for the salmon dinner with visiting family members.

As you can see from the map there are many trails to take you around the thick woods.

We had a very quiet and peaceful night tied up to the dock here at Blake Island. Can’t wait to come back someday.