RDP SATURDAY: DECEPTION

When I was a kid, I could not wait to visit Deception Pass in Washington state because of it’s name.

Deception Pass.

Say it out loud and work those ‘s’. It sound spooky, doesn’t it?

I thought  Deception Pass  must be like Donner Pass where once upon a time people resorted to cannibalism  to stay alive.

I was sure Deception Pass was haunted and cursed.

I couldn’t wait to get there.

But then I found out that it was called Deception Pass because Captain Vancouver said he had been tricked by the waterway itself and it had fooled him into thinking it was something else all together.

I walked away from that Washington State history lesson thinking that Captain Vancouver was a bit of whiny little- well, yeah. I wasn’t impressed.

However in looking back at what Captain Vancouver said about the the nature of the waterway somehow climbing into his skull and playing with his perception of the world around him I can’t help but to feel-

maybe Deception Pass deserved a little more credit for being a spooky place then I gave her credit for.

Plaque explaining the history of Deception Pass: Deception Pass – Named By Captain George Vancouver 10 June 1792. Feeling That He Had Been “Deceived” As To The Nature Of The Inner Waterway, Port Gardner (Now Saratoga Passage) he Wrote On His Chart “Deception Pass.

Deception Island at Deception Pass, Washington, USA Photographer: Benjamin Cody

Deception Pass Bridge; Goose Rock (behind bridge); Ben Ure Island (upper left); view direction: southeast,
Photographer J.Brew