There’s so much water in this state, where do we begin? With the “inland sea” of Puget Sound, of course. It’s brimming with natural superlatives. The Sound’s “steep tides” — whose rise and fall range over a stunning 12 feet — create vast inter-tidal wetlands, the most productive biological life zones on earth. You can learn all about them at Padilla Bay National Marine Reserve in Skagit County, a 1–1/2 hour drive north of Seattle. Padilla Bay is just a small piece of the sprawling Skagit River estuary, about 25 miles long and 15 miles wide. The river supplies some 20% of all the freshwater entering Puget Sound (averaging a stunning 10 million gallons a day), and drains more glaciers than any river in the country outside Alaska! The lower valley claims some of the most fertile soils on the planet.
About the same overall size as San Francisco Bay, the Sound boasts seven times as much shoreline! Its convoluted coast shelters a treasure of hidden coves, beaches and bays that are the delight of sea kayakers and other boaters, anglers, picnickers, and campers. Scores of state and county parks and beaches invite all sorts of recreation — a lovely introduction to the Sound. These include underwater parks for scuba-divers (like Brackett’s Landing Park in Edmonds, north of Seattle) and state marine parks for boaters (a hatful in Skagit Bay).
Hundreds of species of fish thrive in the nutrient-rich waters of the Sound, a deep trench carved out by ancient glaciers. The Seattle Aquarium on Seattle’s central waterfront is a great place to see a big chunk of this flourishing marine life — try the underwater viewing dome. Or you can join a scubadiving charter from any of several dive shops and boats operating from Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Everett, and other local ports.
Deception Pass State Park (2,500 acres and about 70,000 linear feet of shoreline) has something for everyone, one of the most beautiful, diverse, and popular parks in the state. It sprawls across the pass between Whidbey and Fidalgo islands. The park also includes six other islands in Skagit Bay. The diversity of land and sea, of forests and lakes, tidelands and rocky peaks — and the gorge of Deception Pass itself with tidal currents up to 10 knots — offer endless natural history exploration.
The San Juan Islands are another remarkable feature of Washington’s “water world” — 172 named islands, and several hundred more unnamed islands, islets, rocks, and reefs compressed into a tightly clustered archipelago about two hours north of Seattle. Scuba diving is the foremost way to encounter the rich undersea environment. But you can also explore the islands aboard several natural history cruises from Puget Sound ports (killer whales, especially, from Friday Harbor). Other easy ways to get close to nature include joining a sea kayaking adventure; fishing, hiking shorelines, or biking to coastal parks (like Cattle Point, Shark Reef, Agate Beach), which can bring you close to eagles, otters, hawks, seals, heron and other wildlife. Several cruise companies now offer day tours aboard fast sightseeing boats all over the region — to see whales and other wildlife, to reach the San Juans, run the rapids of Deception Pass. They sail from Seattle, Whidbey Island, Bellingham, Everett, LaConner, Anacortes, Port Townsend, and other ports.
Big Lakes are part of the state’s water world. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness an hour east of Seattle protects over 500 lakes and wonderful high country trout fishing. Lake Chelan (3 hours from Seattle) is a “freshwater fjord,” barely a mile wide, but 55 miles long. Its pure waters form the third deepest lake in the country, bounded by crags and forests. Take one of the boat tours from Chelan to the wilderness village of Stehekin at the lake’s northern tip, and along the way enjoy extensive natural history narration. Lake Ozette in Olympic National Park is another wild jewel full of natural history.
Big Rivers include the Columbia, second largest river on the West Coast. Although heavily dammed, extensive wetlands still can be explored in the Columbia Gorge around Washougal. Farther upstream, at Hanford Reach, are some 80 miles of free-flowing river, longest stretch on the Columbia. Recreationists come to fish, canoe, camp, explore. The Sol Duc River (and several others) in Olympic Park flow undammed to the sea — look for returning Coho salmon in the Sol Duc in September and October from roadside observation decks.
Out on Washington’s Wild Coast are pristine estuaries and marvelous wild beaches. Willapa Bay, near Long Beach, is edged by a few small towns and yet remains almost as natural as the day pioneers began harvesting tons of oysters here in the 1850s. The bay nurtures remarkable wildlife — explore it on your own by kayak or canoe, or join an organized natural history cruise from the town of Nahcotta. Olympic National Park includes a 57-mile long coastal strip, which protects the longest stretch of wild beach in the continental United States, over 50 miles. Here are seastacks and offshore islets providing refuge to countless seabirds. At low tide you can walk among the stacks to explore tide pools, picnic, or fish. Sea otters, once hunted nearly to extinction, have made a strong comeback on Washington’s north Olympic Peninsula. Look for them in kelp beds. You can backpack the 22 miles of continuous unroaded coast from Rialto to Cape Alava.