Point No Point: Fishing, Birdwatching, and Northwest History

While I'm a local girl with family roots in the Puget Sound region extending back over 140 years, there are still many places around here I've never been.  The way I see it, there's more than a lifetime's worth of places to explore close by, like Point No Point (Hahd-Skus as the local Indians called it) on the northeasternmost point of Kitsap Peninsula, just a ferry ride across the Sound from the Seattle area.

A few weeks ago a couple friends and I headed there early on a Saturday morning for a photography outing.  After Cameron picked us up at the Bainbridge ferry, with a bag of warm muffins from a local bakery  to share (bless him!), we drove north about 25 minutes. Our route passed through the Port Madison Indian Reservation and bucolic pastures en route to Point No Point, land's end, in Hansville.

First ferry of the day from Seattle arriving at Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island

Since we arrived early, we were there with the birders and fishers (mostly men but a few women, too). On this low-lying spit of land, a wetland below the lighthouse is a birder's haven. And most of the former mighty Puget Sound salmon runs pass by here, making it a seasonal magnet for local fishermen and women.

Fly fishers at Point No Point, facing eastward

The guy on the left  with a couple silver salmon had better luck than most today.

While reveling in the fresh  sea air on this cool September morning, we took lots of pictures and did a little exploring.  A trail south from the lighthouse extends past wetlands, and we stopped at a nice viewing platform just off the trail for some more shots. We didn't see many birds, but a great blue heron did grace us with his presence in the marsh below.

Trail to bird viewing platform, wetland to the right.

Driftwood sculpture...or not?

In the the late 1870s the lighthouse was established here at Point No Point (the first on Puget Sound). Today the historic lighthouse is no longer functioning, but it was just restored and reopened a few months ago as a symbol of the region's historic lighthouses. 

Historic Point No Point Lighthouse

And this point was the site of the sweeping Treaty of Point No Point in 1855, where  local Indian Tribes (S'Klallam,  Chimakum, and Skokomish) were essentially bullied into ceding their land from the Olympic Mountains on the west all the way to the Cascade Mountains on the east to the U. S. government.  While the tribes were provided token reservation land to inhabit, an important trade-off  was the allowance of hunting and fishing rights, which persist today.

I'm tempted to grab some friends and come over here some weekend to spend the night at the former lighthouse keeper's house, which has been converted into a duplex, half of which is available for rent.  I can see it now - relaxing on the covered porch with a nightcap and then again in the morning with a cup of tea. 

What are you memories of Point No Point? Have you stayed at the lighthouse keeper's house? Would love to hear in the comments below!

When You Go
This link has directions to drive to Point No Point.   Here's a link to rental information.  There's a two-night minimum stay on weekends and it costs $215/night. We took the Bainbridge ferry from Seattle, but if you're north of downtown, the Edmonds-Kingston ferry is closer. For a good article about the lighthouse history, here's a story from the Seattle Times.