Jones Island State Park is a

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state park coterminous with Jones Island, one of the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

in San Juan County,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is located one mile (1.6 km) west of the southwestern corner of

Orcas Island Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, which are in the northwestern corner of San Juan County, Washington. History and naming of the island The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' fro ...

and accessible only by boat. The island has a land area of and no resident population. The island was named by the

Wilkes Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

in 1841 for naval officer Jacob Jones.

Activities and amenities

The park features a dock, four miles of hiking trails, and 24 primitive campsites, two of which are reserved for non-motorized voyagers traveling along the Cascadia Marine Trail. The park's population of

black-tail deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all ...

have become accustomed to human presence and will allow themselves to be fed by hand, which activity is, however, illegal.

How to get there

Jones Island can be reached by personal watercraft. On the north side there seven mooring buoys and 128 linear feet of dock moorage at the North Cove. The removal of the moorage dock at North Cove begins in October and installation begins at the end of March. Mooring buoys are available year-round. On the south side there are some secure anchorage points, although knowledge of tides, currents and bottom depth should be taken into account. Kayakers should also be aware of the dramatic tidal exchanges, weather conditions and possibility of the campsite to be booked out by tours.

References

External links

Jones Island State Park
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission {{authority control Uninhabited islands of Washington (state) Parks in San Juan County, Washington State parks of Washington (state) San Juan Islands