on the ferry to Orcas

I spent three days alone on Orcas Island this last week at Doe Bay Resort. It’s a lovely spot that I’ve been to many times, but not since my kids were born. I rented a little cabin all to myself and filled it with food, music, and art supplies. I took hikes, drank tea, listened to music, and played at art. It was a retreat, a chance to get some head space after the busy summer, to make marks on paper without attachment, and to be reinvigorated by nature.

the trail at Obstruction Pass State Park

big leaf maple

I was drawn to the San Juan Islands for their beauty and specifically for the madrone trees. I’ve been thinking about them as  inspiration for my next body of work. Madrones, arbutus menziesii, are spectacular trees. Their rough outer orange bark peels away to reveal a muscular bright green inner bark. They grow on rocky cliffs and outcroppings overhanging the sound, twisted by storms. Their textile-like bark sheds and collects in piles at their bases. It was gratifying and satiating to just sit with them.

arbutus menziesii

On my last day on the island I went to a spot that a local told me about that’s not on the tourist maps. It’s a point of land that juts out into the sound and is sacred land to the Lummi Tribe. Like all the hikes I did in my three days, I was completely alone with nature. I followed the faint trail, breaking spider webs, through the brush until I found groves of madrones. It was a special place, quintessentially northwest. As I turned back  to my car and the 12:10 Ferry, I stopped and thanked the spirits of the land. It felt right.