San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands are made of 172 named islands and reefs in Northwestern Washington, a few hours north of Seattle. Northwest Outward Bound School operates backpacking and sea kayaking courses throughout this stunning landscape filled with diverse mix of life including cactuses, wildflowers, enormous cedars, firs and madronas. The waters team with life and include giant kelp forests, marine invertebrates, salmon, seals, whales, and porpoises, and above us are great blue herons, cormorants, gulls, osprey, peregrine falcons, and bald eagles. Tucked between glaciated mountains on the Olympic peninsula, Vancouver Island, and the Cascades of mainland Washington and British Columbia the islands are in the rain shadow of the Olympics and the views from within the islands and beyond to the mountains are spectacular and unforgettable.