Lounging In Laid-Back Lopez Island, WA
When you think of Island living most folks imagine long days lounging in a hammock, swinging on a soft breeze and napping to the sound of the ocean. The San Juan’s are a little different than most Islands, being much more active and raw than the tropics, but if you wanted to get closer to that lounging ideal, Lopez Island would definitely be your best bet.
The third largest of the San Juan archipelago, the “Friendly Isle” is only 15 miles long, hosts a mere 2,500 year-round residents and is the most laid-back of the “main” Islands in the San Juan’s. People don’t come here to sight-see as such but rather to lounge by the campground, bike serenely through the pastured fields and kayak around the waters. There are smaller and more isolated spots in the San Juans no doubt, but if you want an easy ferry trip to a relaxing spot, SLopez (as the locals like to call it) is the place to go.
We’d planned to visit this Island ever since fellow blogger Laurel commented a few months ago that she was hosting there over the summer and suggested we meet-up. So on a particularly foggy morning, we braved the thick grey and launched on another 5-hour mega-ferry-roundtrip to “hop” over to Lopez. Here’s our highlights of the area:
Biking Mania
Lopez is considered the very best of the Islands for easy biking, mostly because it’s the flattest. The San Juans are not your typical flat-land isles. Formed by a massive glacier that carved the Puget Sound around 15,000 years ago most of the Islands are rugged, rocky and hilly. Lopez is the one exception. It’s not Florida-flat, but it’s flat enough that even the most moderately fit of folks can enjoy a pleasant bike-ride. Also given it’s less of a tourist draw than either Orcas or San Juan, there’s less traffic and plenty of relaxed back-roads to enjoy a pedal. Since we brought the dog for our day-trip we decided to drive over, but most people will walk-on with their bikes and spend the day pedaling around the Island trails. There are also plenty of on-Island rental companies if you don’t have 2 wheels of your own.
Produce Heaven
The other nice, little bonus of being flat(ish) is that Lopez has probably the most diverse agricultural production of all the San Juan Islands. As you drive along the roads you pass farm after farm bursting with organic produce, free-range cows, pastured lamb and even roaming pigs. Little roadside stands loaded with green goodness pop up along the way inviting you to take what you want and leave the money in the bucket. Most of the restaurants/cafes use local produce, plus there’s even a great organic grocery, several local bakeries (Barn Owl Bakery makes the best gluten-free sourdough bread I have ever tasted in my LIFE!) and a local winery. Oh and for the sweetly-inclined this was where Lopez Creamery started too.
Those of you who know the blog already know I’m a huge fan of local, fresh produce and anywhere that offers this kind of variety gets mega brownie points in my book. Besides a very tasty lunch, we stopped at a few of the roadside stands to nab some fresh garlic and potatoes. Slopez eating…yum, yum….
Natural Beauty
Although Lopez has less popular sightseeing than the other Islands, it hides plenty of natural beauty for those willing to make the trip. Spencer Spit, a cute little sand spit situated on the east side of the Island is a well-known camping & kayaking spot, as well as the home to our RV host buddies. Driving to the southern tip, Agate Beach boasts millions of colorful polished rocks as well as (get this) the nicest pit toilet I have EVER seen. Why this hasn’t become a cult tourist attraction I have no idea, but in my mind it’s worth the drive down there just to see/use this little piece of art. Travelling west you hit the creme-de-la-creme of the Island attractions, Shark Reef Sanctuary. An easy 15-min walk from the nondescript parking lot takes you to a little rocky paradise with clear, swirling waters and teeming families of seals. We hung by the shoreline with doggie (who was absolutely enthralled by the way) and watched them play in the water & dunk under the seaweed for fish. Definitely the highlight of our day.
It goes without saying of course, that many of these local beauties boast sweeping views and gorgeous panoramas of the neighbor Islands….absolutely none of which we saw. The fog decided to be particularly stubborn on our day-trip and clothed everything but the very closest views in a thick, white mass ALL day long…Oh well…..
Note/ Spencer Spit is on State Park Land and so requires a $10/day use fee (or $30 annual pass) for motorized vehicles. Agate Beach & Shark Reef Sanctuary are free. All three areas are completely dog-friendly. To see the amazing pit toilet, park at Agate Beach parking and walk the small trail away from the beach into the forest. It’s just around the corner.
Lopez Village
We ended our little Island-hop with a lunch date at Vortex in Lopez Village (the one and only downtown) with RV hosts Laurel and Eric. This couple has spent the last four summers hosting on Lopez after falling in love with the Island on a camping trip many years ago. As with most fellow RVers we hit it off immediately and enjoyed an good chat while we waited (Island-time, you know) for our lunch. Our excellent meal (all organic, local) was followed by a quick downtown tour and one of the tastiest Mocha’s I’ve had in a long time at Caffe La Boheme. They not only mix their own chocolate, but they whip their own full-fat cream….oh baby. This little town may only be a few blocks wide, but it packs in some tasty, tasty options.
Note/ Vortex has plenty of dog-friendly outdoor seating as does Cafe La Boheme.
A few hours later and back on our mountain-top home we patted our bellies and enjoyed the impressions of the day. Slopez lived up to it’s nickname and provided us with the most laid-back visit we’ve had so far. I’ve never seen so many people wave (every single person we saw, literally) and rarely enjoyed a more relaxing drive. Plus it’s always fun to visit fellow RVers. Worth the long ferry-hop to see and worth coming back to a longer lounge sometime in the future. Keep it slow, my friends…
Useful Links:
- Lopez Island attractions – for map click HERE and for shoreline attractions click HERE
- Lopez Island biking – route maps for biking HERE
- Lopez Village – Downtown map and info HERE
- Washington State Ferry Inter-Island Schedule & Rates – click HERE
Love the colored rocks! Beautiful photos.
Agate Beach was pretty special. Wish I could gave seen more of it, but the fog was just so darn thick. The rocks were gorgeous.
Nina
Wow you are bringing back memories! Before we traded it in for an RV we had a sailboat for nearly 30 years that we kept in Anacortes. Spent lots of time sailing among the San Juan Islands, anchoring at Spencer Spit and off Agate Beach as well as every other spot in those as well as the Gulf Islands.
You were unlucky with the stubborn fog – obviously we would not take off sailing through that, but I can’t remember a time when we had to wait longer than noon or 1 for it to clear.
Actually, as you guys are such great boondockers – you ought to live your next life sailing around the world!
Yeah we were particularly unlucky with the fog that day. Like you said it typically disperses in the afternoon…just not the one day we had planned for the Island hop. Thank goodness for HDR, otherwise I’d have nothing but black blobs of photos from that entire day LOL!
Cheers for sharing your sailing stories of the Islands. If I didn’t get so easily seasick I think I’d love to sail. It would be an amazing way to discover the Puget Sound.
Nina
Wow! that is one bright colorful out house. I like the boats on the shore, pic also. Looks like a very nice place.
It was a total surprise when we found it. Paul actually found it first and come running back to tell me to come and see it. A pit toilet? Really? Yup, it was worth seeing.
Nina
Love that last picture!
Thanks! It took a bit of “creative” photography to get anything other than a black blob with whiteout background in that fog, but I was happy with the way this one turned out.
Nina
What I great writeup and great pics too. You’ve taught me a little more about this amazing little archipelago in my back hard. Thanks and I’m glad to see how much you’re enjoying Washington so far.
Thanks! Wish I could gave gotten a few more nature shots, but I’m glad we got to experience the Island despite the fog.
Nina
When it comes right down to it, a pleasant place to do your business is pretty high on the list, eh? That is one nice toilet.
And those rocks make you think? Did they all come from the same general area? Maybe but more likely they didn’t. How many millions of years did it take to gather them all up, polish them round and deposit them all on the same beach?
Great post and pictures. Seems we’ll be adding another spot to our wishlist.
They’re good questions indeed. Words to ponder on.
Nina
Nina, you perfectly captured the spirit of Lopez with your eloquent words and gorgeous photos. This island holds a special place in our hearts, and you definitely “got” and appreciated the Lopez vibe. Eric and I enjoyed so much meeting you and Paul and Polly and hope we can meet up again soon. 🙂
It was great to meet you guys too! Enjoy the rest of your summer on the Island! You guys have a sweet hosting gig.
Nina
What a wonderful description to a place that sounds quite like paradise….
I think we like the “vibe” on this Island the best of all that we’ve visited. So nice and relaxed.
Nina
Love your blog and pictures which give us great ideas for future travels. I hope we make it to this area someday.
Glad to give ya some inspiration! Travel on!
Nina
Your tales of the San Juan Islands bring back memories of one of my best vacations when I was single. My home base was Friday Harbor. I took a ferry to Lopez Island and biked for the day. Coming from the desert of New Mexico, I thought the islands were quite exotic.
Oh I can just imagine. So much green and lush after living in the desert. Must have been a stunning contrast.
Nina
Cool, you got to meet my birding buddies, Eric and Laurel. With all of you showing us the beauty of the islands we’ve missed we might just come back there one of these years.
So you met them too! The RV world is a small one.
Nina
Yup, we went birding in Dauphin Island last April just days before the big storm hit.
Sounds like a lovely place, fog and all. One could get people seriously excited about pit toilets with just a couple colors of paint and a few plants – that one looks like the forest gnomes spruced it up to fit in their little glade! Glad you were able to meet up with Laurel and Eric. Not hard to see why they return here every year :-).
I never thought I’d get excited about a pit toilet, but this one takes the cake. The interior had more details that I wasn’t able to capture in the general pic. A fun find!
Nina
When I first saw “Slopez” I read it as “slop ease” and wondered just what that was all about! Then it occurred to me you probably meant “Slowpez”, right?
Yes, slowpez it is 🙂
How is cell service on the islands?
Very, very spotty. We have some Verizon signal on Orcas especially around town and on the mountain top, but there’s little to no signal in the rest of Moran State Park. San Juan had mostly decent signal with a few dead spots. Lopez was very spotty (lots of dead spots). It’s hit and miss.
Nina
Any luck with boondocking in NW WA? I found a few good spots on the Olympic Peninsula; mostly around forks. Like that Port Angeles/Sequim area.
No, no real luck with boondocking. We’ve done allot of dry camping during our OP trip, but no real boondocking (= free camping in the wilds). There is a Casino near Sequim that I know of, but the National Forests on the coast have very little to no dispersed camping allowed. National Forest campgrounds are cheap ($10-$18), but mostly on the smaller side (i.e. Not big rig friendly). No BLM land on the coast and none of the WDFW areas on the coast allow camping either. Eastern WA has many more free camping options, including WDFW spots, National Forest and BLM.
Nina
Yet another beautiful island to explore. We can’t wait to spend some time out there. It was wonderful that you got to meet Eric and Laurel. We hope to catch up with them as well someday. Wonderful photos Nina. 🙂
They’re neat folks. You would definitely get along.
Nina
It’s great that you’re able to enjoy your days off island hopping. I imagine one day per island just isn’t enough. And Polly seems to enjoy her ‘field trips’ too.
We like to take Apollo on field trips too and discovered a dog park on the coast of San Francisco called Fort Funston. It is known for the winds and so on most days you can watch hang gliders soar from the cliffs out over the ocean and back. Getting down to the beach is easy but getting back up to the parking lot is a butt-busting walk. If you’re ever down this way you might consider a trip to this unique area.
Indeed one day per Island isn’t enough. I wish we could overnight, but our schedule (and the cats) just doesn’t make that feasible.
Nice tip on the SF dog park. We lived in SF for many years, but it was pre-Polly so we don’t actually have much info on paw friendly spots there. Love that city!
Nina