Sailing down Puget Sound on May 24, 1792, Capt. George Vancouver wrote in his journal of an abundance of dogs that “were all shorn as close to the skin as sheep are in England … and were composed of a mixture of a coarse kind of wool, with very fine long hair, capable of being spun into yarn.” A few weeks later, Vancouver wrote that Mr. Whidbey had observed about 200 Native people “walking along the shore (of what is now Camano Island, north of Whidbey Island), attended by about 40 dogs in a drove.” These dogs were also shorn.
Vancouver thought they resembled Pomeranians, but they were a breed specific to the Salish Sea, known in Lushootseed as ske’-ha, and now in English as Coast Salish woolly dogs. The dogs were diligently protected from being mixed with the other "village dogs."
The Samish also raised this breed of dog, and had so many on one island that they called the island Qweng7qwengila7, “Island of Many Dogs.” (Spoken aloud, it sounds like KwongKWONGilla.) Because of Spanish explorers, our white culture now calls it Guemes Island.
One Coast Salish member said, “Our relationship with the woolly dogs, our relationship with the camas patches and the clam beds, the way that we tended the land and tended the forests … these all show the systems in place that are far more complex than what people take for granted about Coast Salish culture.”
photo: Murphy on Dog Island
Unfortunately, Coast Salish woolly dogs went extinct in the late 1800s, as Hudson’s Bay blankets became more economical than raising, sheering, and weaving the dog hair mixed with rare mountain goat hair.
Five years ago, Birch Beaudet and David Wertheimer purchased land on Guemes to create a special sanctuary. They named the preserve Dog Woods to acknowledge the Coast Salish stewards who have cared for this island since time immemorial.
Murphy, Kath, and I visit here frequently, walking onto the Guemes ferry and then along the beach and up West Shore Road to its entrance. Murphy loves Dog Woods, although for his short legs it’s a long round trip of nearly five miles.
For us, it’s like going back home. As we hike the familiar trails, we look forward in anticipation to so many of the features that make it special: Waldo Pond, the sasquatch, the ancient hemlock growing out of an even larger stump, the bevy of owls, the shadowed and sacred cedar grove, and now wolf pups.
We wandered along the trails as if we were walking through a home that we share with all, each familiar place a shared touchstone through all the ages. We treasure the ongoing work to restore the health of the preserve’s natural cedar, fir, and paper birch environment, with plantings of cascara, yew, crabapple, and more.
Now they’re hoping to boost the number and variety of native flowers in Dog Woods that bloom from early spring into late fall to provide a reliable food source for bees, moths, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other insects. What a work of love and devotion!
When we got back to the trailhead, we found the latest addition to the Dog Woods: a gorgeous bench carved by Bellingham artists Leigh Woody and Michael Naselow. Check out what’s happening on the backside of the dog.
And in time, Dog Woods will be gifted to Skagit Land Trust, to be forever conserved as a nature preserve. And as a haven for the soul and spirit of our sacred land and its ongoing life for us all.
Directions
Trail Conditions: Excellent. After a long winter of rain, the trail was virtually mud-free and well maintained. There are several miles of trails wandering through Dog Woods. Dogs are welcome on or off leash here, so long as they are respectful of wildlife and people, and their owners pick up after them. The car ferry is being serviced this month, so the only access is by foot or bicycle right now, unless you arrange with an island resident for a ride.
Directions: Take the Guemes Ferry from 6th and I Avenue in Anacortes to Guemes. Walk the beach to Kelly's Point and then take West Shore Road a half mile to Dog Woods, or follow South Shore Road to West Beach Road and then up to Dog Woods.
By bike: It's a little over a mile of quiet gently rolling roadways on the island to get there. Bikes are not allowed on the trails.
Mobility: The trails are mostly narrow and hard-packed dirt. There is also a wider converted logging road path with gravel and hardpacked earth. There are no significant elevation changes.
Republished with permission. Originally published at Hiking Close to Home.