Craft Island

As the Skagit Delta has expanded into Puget Sound, it has gradually engulfed the small islands that once must have dotted the northern portion of what was once a much larger Skagit Bay. Some of these islands are larger than others - Fidalgo Island, for example, which is only still an island by virtue of the Swinomish Channel. Most of these islands are simply hills now, rising out of the miles of low, flat tulip and mustard seed fields. Some are tiny rock dimples - by sheer luck rising slightly higher than modern sea level - juxtaposing ancient bedrock ledges against acres of tide flat and salt marsh.

If you drive to the west end of Rawlins Road (turn at the Snow Goose farm stand) and park, you can find a half-mile trail that skirts the high marsh out to this rocky knob. And if the tide is low, you can just keep on walking for miles.