The spectacular San Juan Islands Scenic Byway is Washington’s newest byway, and is unique in that it is the only state byway which includes a marine highway. This new byway begins at the Anacortes Washington State Ferries Terminal

To get there, follow Interstate 5 to Exit 230 at Burlington, follow State Route 20 west to Anacortes, then follow signs to the ferry terminal. Passengers can drive, walk or take their bikes onto a ferry. For the best value, purchase a roundtrip ticket to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, and once you’ve experienced San Juan Island enjoy free ferry passage to Orcas Island, since east-bound passage is part of your return trip to Anacortes. The ferry ride to Friday Harbor takes one to two hours depending on whether the ferry is scheduled to stop at other islands. (For more tips regarding traveling to the islands, see our “Getting Here & Around” section.)

The marine route follows an historic Coast Salish canoe trail, and if you look carefully you can see the beaches where people pulled out to harvest clams, venison and camas bulbs. If the ferry stops at Shaw and Lopez Islands, visitors will want to “hang over the rail” and watch as other travelers disembark or load onto the ferry. Getting to the San Juan Islands aboard a WashingtonState Ferry is half the fun!

San Juan Island

You’ll disembark the ferry at the Town of Friday Harbor, a walkable, historic seaport, and the only incorporated town in the San Juan Islands. Friday Harbor is filled with water-view restaurants, boutiques, bookstores, galleries and museums.

Enjoy the waterfront walk down to the Port of Friday Harbor, appreciating the Coast Salish “Portals of Welcome” house posts and the many visiting yachts and boats from around the world. Whale watch excursions and sea kayak tours depart from the port seasonally; island shuttle bus tours depart from next to the ferry lanes seasonally. Friday Harbor was chosen as one of the 2008 Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and will celebrate its Centennial in 2009. (Gas stations are only located in town, so be sure to fill up before you continue around the island.)

Stroll or drive up historic Spring Street and take a right on First Street to reach The Whale Museum (62 First St. N.) which has promoted stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem for almost 30 years through research and education.

Children and adults will enjoy the museum’s interactive educational displays and gift shop. This is a great stop before taking a seasonal whale watch excursion.

Return to Spring Street, turn right, and drive or walk about half a mile, then take a right on Price Street to reach the San Juan Historical Museum (405 Price St.).

The museum complex is located on the James King homestead which is over 100 years old, and consists of the original farmhouse, the first county jail, a turn-of-the-century log cabin, barn, milk house, and a carriage house.

Retrace your route on Spring Street to the middle of town and take a left on Second Street (which becomes Guard St.) and follow the signs to Roche Harbor, taking a right on Tucker Road (which becomes Roche Harbor Rd.), and drive about 20

minutes. You’ll pass the San Juan Community Theatre as well as the parking lot where the Farmers’ Market is held seasonally on Saturdays. You’ll also eventually pass San Juan Vineyards on the right, which houses its tasting room in an historic school house. Nearing Roche Harbor you’ll also see a sign pointing out “Oysters at the End of the Road” which can be followed to Westcott Bay Sea Farms, a working oyster farm where world-famous oysters, mussels and clams can be purchased by the public. 

Nearing Roche Harbor you’ll see the Westcott Bay Sculpture Park on your left, which boasts over 100 sculptures placed in an open, 19-acre, natural setting.

Ramble through the sculptures or enjoy the nature trail developed by island Girl Scouts that takes you into a native forest and close to Westcott Bay, home of the world-famous oysters. 

Take a left out of the park and continue toward Roche Harbor. On the National Register of Historic Places, Roche Harbor’s centerpiece, the Hotel de Haro, was built in 1886. Several types of lodging, restaurants, shops, seasonal artisan booths, gardens, and one of the largest marinas along the byway make historic Roche Harbor a great stop for a meal and exploration.

Leave Roche Harbor, retrace your route, take a right onto West Valley Road and follow the signs toEnglish Camp/San Juan Island National Historical Park. This park celebrates how individuals and nations can resolve disputes without resorting to violence. For it was here in the mid 1800s that Great Britain and the United States

settled ownership of the island through peaceful arbitration of the “Pig War” crisis. Park your vehicle in the lot and stroll down to the shore of Garrison Bay where the British Royal Marines remained for 12 years until Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany decided the sovereignty of the dispute and awarded the islands to the U.S. in 1872. (American Camp, on the other side of the island, is the other park site of the National Historical Park.)

Returning to West Valley Road, take a right, passingKrystal Acres Alpaca Farm. Take another right onto Mitchell Bay Road which leads to a “smooth” left turn onto West Side Road and down the west side of the island to San Juan County Park.

This is a perfect place to picnic, camp, watch wildlife and/or the sun set, or launch kayaks. The park also has a rich, colorful history and was used as a site for the film “Practical Magic” starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock.

Return to West Side Road, take a right and drive another few minutes, turning right into Lime Kiln Point State Park a.k.a. Whale Watch Park. This is the only park in the world dedicated to shore-based orca whale watching. Hiking trails, a seasonal interpretive center and restrooms make this a great stop for kids and adults.

Be sure to use the accessible trail down to the interpretive displays at the water’s edge and follow the trail along the shore to the picturesque, working lighthouse, which offers seasonal tours and is used as a research facility by The Whale Museum.

Continue out of the park to the right and south along West Side Road, which becomes Bailer Hill Road, passing rocky overlooks, shaded bays, and scenic farmlands for about 5 miles until a right hand turn on Little Road brings you to Cattle Point Road. Take a right and travel about five minutes to American Camp/San Juan

Island National Historical Park. This site is the location where American troops were stationed during the peaceful “Pig War” crisis. Check out the visitor center and/or walk to the Redoubt which is surrounded by grazing land that once was a Hudson's Bay Company cattle and sheep ranch. Watch for rabbits and foxes and raptors that fly close by, as well as marine life in the distance.

Return to Cattle Point Road, take a right, (perhaps explore beautiful South Beach and/or Jakle’s Lagoon/Mt. Finlayson hiking trails), then drive southeast to the Department of Natural Resource’s Cattle Point Interpretive Area, just past the Cattle Point Lighthouse. Watch for deer, eagles and marine mammals such as seals and sea lions from the shelter, picnic area and beach below.  

Return to Friday Harbor retracing your route along Cattle Point Road, being sure to look for views of Mt. Baker. Take a right onto Spring Street and follow it into town. Stay a night or more, and/or take the free inter-island ferry to Orcas Island by getting in the ferry lanes after taking a right on First Street.  The inter-island ferry to Orcas Island departs several times each day; the schedule changes seasonally.

ORCAS ISLAND:

Orcas Village greets visitors as they arrive at the ferry landing. The landing dates back to 1889.  Lodging, shops, dining, groceries and restrooms can be found here. Turn left when you leave the ferry (as directed by the ferry personnel) and drive slowly up the hill past the Orcas Hotel (on the right) which was built in 1904 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Keep following Orcas Road north from the ferry landing.

Take the first left hand turn onto Deer Harbor Road and follow it to Deer Harbor. This fifteen-minute drive, with many water views, leads to the quiet hamlet of Deer Harbor which includes lodging, dining, sea kayaking, whale watching and fishing charters. When the first Europeans arrived in Deer Harbor they found a Lummi Indian encampment along the slough which connects shallow inner basin with the main harbor. Deer Harbor is home to several historic buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

Retrace your route back to Orcas Road and take a left. Traveling past working farms and gardens you’ll see the hanging sign for Crow Valley Pottery on your left, nearly across from the golf course. Housed in an historic 1866 log cabin, Crow Valley Pottery was first opened in 1959 and now continues seasonally under the second generation of family ownership. The shop and grounds feature the works of over seventy artists. Their second gallery is located in downtown Eastsound and is open year round. 

Continue north on Orcas Road, which will bring you to a right hand turn onto Main Street which takes you into Eastsound Village. This is the commercial hub of Orcas Island. The Orcas Island Historical Museum is located in the center of the village, by taking a left on North Beach Road, next to the Village Green, which is

home to the seasonal Farmer’s Market, music events, etc. Six original homestead cabins, built during the 1870s and 1890s, are covered by a modern shell. Each cabin is a space for interpreting island history as told through the life stories and material culture of the First Peoples and early European-American settlers. Don’t leave before seeing the 10,000-year-old bison skull.

Return to Main Street, take a left, and the road becomes Crescent Beach Road heading east out of town. You’ll pass two of the three gas stations on Orcas Island on your left. Take a right at the stop sign and drive south on Olga Road. Turn right onto Rosario Road and follow it to historic Moran Mansion at Rosario Resort. Robert Moran, a shipbuilder and former mayor of Seattle, completed the mansion in

1909, which is now the centerpiece of this popular resort and marina. Recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the property still retains a link to its turn-of-the-century origins, as is evident by the artfully restored teak and mahogany mansion, which boasts 6,000 square feet of teak parquet floors and houses the resort′s art gallery, historical museum and famed music room featuring Tiffany chandeliers, a Steinway grand piano and a renowned Aeolian pipe organ.

Return to Olga Road, take a right, and continue to Moran State Park and Mt. Constitution. Donated by Robert Moran, the park now includes 5,252 acres, five freshwater lakes, over 30 miles of hiking trails, waterfalls and campsites.

The highest point in the San Juan Islands is 2,409-foot-high Mt. Constitution, offering panoramic views of surrounding islands and the Cascade Mountains. Mt. Constitution is a must-see “side trip” off of the scenic byway.

Return to Olga Road, turn left, and continue south to Orcas Island Artworks, Café Olga, and James Hardman Gallery. This artist cooperative and gallery is housed in a 1936 strawberry packing plant in the hamlet of Olga. The Cafe Olga, a delightful restaurant featuring Pacific Northwest cuisine, is a favorite destination for islanders and visitors alike.

Take a left turn out of the parking lot onto Point Lawrence Road and continue another ten minutes to Doe Bay Resort and Retreat. A rustic Northwest icon, Doe Bay offers lodging, massage, yoga, sea kayaking, hot tubs and relaxing Adirondack chairs overlooking the spectacular water view.  The Doe Bay Cafe draws on the abundance of Orcas Island farms and fishermen for fresh ingredients.

Retrace your route back to Orcas Village and catch a free ferry back to Anacortes. Or stay and play longer on Orcas Island!