Chuckanut Drive

Again - that beautiful Friday - sunshine - clouds and a drive up Chuckanut.  Chuckanut Drive a 20-mile road that connects the Skagit Valley to Bellingham. It is a much slower alternative to the whizzing fast traffic of I-5 - just the thing to complete our day.  It winds along the coast and  along the rock shoulder of the Chuckanut Mountains. 

"Chuckanut" is a Native American word meaning "beach on a bay with a small entrance."  The road was originally

completed in 1896 - but not paved, and was the first road to connect our county to the south. It brought in a new era of transportation and merchants could now market their products in Bellingham and return home all in the same day. 

The road has some of the most difficult road-building terrain in the state due to its sheer cliffside, which made it a less-than-ideal location for a highway. Paving the road had to be done in stages because there was no funding left after the road was laid out. 

Convicts from local jails worked on the road and it was completed in the early 1920s, with plenty of stone guardrails and stone bridges.  At some places you could reach out and touch the massive rock cliffs that line the road - and it is often so narrow that two normal size cars slow down when approaching each other to avoid hitting the rock cliffs - or the rock retaining walls.  The road curves in and out of the forest - with amazing views of the San Juan islands and the bay.

View from the cliffs above the bay . . .

Looking north . . .

The gravel beach is actually the railbed for the trains that travel this route - between Seattle and British Columbia.  This is the route that Amtrak takes - beautful views of the bay from the train.

Another view of the bay with fairies dancing on the water . ..

Lookin towards Anacortes . . .

Islands and clouds . . .

Almost more breathtaking views than you can take in . . .

Don looking out over the bay . . .

 

Boulders to keep you from driving off the cliff . . . a good idea . . .

Boulder table and benches - I think you should bring a cushion or two for the picnic . . .

This tree is trying to step over a very large boulder . . .

This huge boulder sits across the road from the view point where we stopped.  The plaque says "Dedicated to the Memory of Governor Lister - by the Women's Improvement Club - Edison, WA".  There is no date - he was governor from 1913 to 1919, when he passed away.  Governor Lister was instrumental in using honor convicts from Washington prisons to work as servants in his home, helping them to earn money to be used on their release from jail. It was a successful experiment, and convicts were also used to complete the paving of Chuckanut Drive. 

The view point was dedicated to the governor for his work in helping convicts and eventually getting the road paved, after funds ran out for the project.  There is just a small pull-over area beside this boulder and if we hadn't stopped to turn around and go back to the view point we would have missed the plaque.