Finding Love on Indian Island
Throughout every kind of weather of all four seasons - and despite the presence of a Naval Magazine! - Indian Island radiates beauty, solitude, and unconditional love.
When I first stumbled upon Indian Island in the Olympic Peninsula, I couldn’t quite believe that such a place existed.
Here was this exquisitely untouched coastline lined with Madrone forests and overlooking views of the Olympics and Rainier, and all of it was open to the public. How could this be?
I’d just moved to the Port Townsend area and was staying on Marrowstone Island (also an incredibly beautiful place with miles of public beaches), so I’d drive over Indian Island every day when dropping my son off at school. Those drives quickly turned into intentional visits as soon as I realized that the 2 miles of pristine coastline were both public and accessible via various points off the road.
Indian Island has become part of my daily self-care ritual.
One of the reasons Indian Island is able to naturally flourish as it does it due to the presence of Navy ammunition-storage facility, present since the second World War. With its fortified gate and double rings of barbed wire encircling the eastern section of the island, visitors can be intimidated enough to easily overlook the public beach access right across from the Naval Magazine’s western flank. However, while imposing, it is due to the Magazine that the island remains largely untouched by development, leaving 142 acres of its western coastline open to public exploration.
While I was initially intimidated by the barbed wire, as soon as I set foot on the public beach and trails, I felt an overwhelming sense of love and belonging.
The pull of nature is strong here, and the land and ocean sing with vitality. In addition to the Madrone forest, marshy wetlands and beach roses, there is an abundance of wildlife, from marsh birds, migrating sea birds, eagles, osprey, and songbirds of all varieties to otters and seals, to coyote and deer. I’ve even seen a gray whale breach in the canal — astonishingly huge in that narrow stretch of water!
I have also found that even on the most glum, overcast Pacific Northwest days, my heart leaps as soon as I step into the Madrone forest and walk the trail along the cliff that overlooks the bay.
In fact, all I really need to do to lift my spirits is to drive slowly over the bridge connecting the mainland to the island, gazing upon the white-shell coves to the north (accessible only at very low tide) and the distant but ever-giant form of Mt. Tahoma (Rainier) to the south.
But being immersed in the nature of Indian Island is far more rewarding. In my first winter of living here, I made it a ritual to run the 1.5 mile length of the beach and then do a cold plunge into the inlet. While I really had to talk myself into it initially, my moments in the water were always my most vital and alive, and the plunge elevated my mood for the rest of the day.
So Indian Island is a healing place, one that gives me great joy to share with others in our upcoming Introduction to Writing in Nature, Deepening in Love on Tuesday August 22nd from 12-1:30pm or Saturday August 29th from 10-11:30am. Designed for writers and walker/hikers at any stage of their journey with writing or hiking, we’ll be attuning ourselves to the rhythms of area in order to go deep with writing and introspection. After introductions and a short grounding ritual, we’ll do a group write, and then a walking exploration of the paths and beach mixed with a few personalized writing prompts to facilitate deep connection with the natural world.
I’d be honored if you were to share this experience with us!
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Lovely post, special pictures!