page_title: Anacortes, Washington
section_title: Recreation and tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Anacortes, Washington / Recreation and tourism
caption_attribution_description: English: Keystone Hotel/Moyer Building, 619 Commercial Avenue, Anacortes, Washington
context_page_description: Anacortes is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman. Anacortes' population was 15,778 at the time of the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes Metropolitan Statistical Area.
  Anacortes is known for the Washington State Ferries dock and terminal serving Lopez Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island, as well as Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. There is also a Skagit County-operated ferry that serves Guemes Island, a residential island located across Guemes Channel, north of Anacortes.
context_section_description: Anacortes is a popular destination for boaters and those traveling on to the San Juan Islands. The city maintains a 220-acre (0.89 km²) city park on the northwestern end of Fidalgo Island named "Washington Park". This park features camping, boat launching, and majestic views of the San Juan Islands. The most prominent view is of Cypress Island.
  As a result of Anacortes' proximity to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the area provides opportunities for whale-watching.  The waters off of Anacortes and Fidalgo Island offer numerous varieties of marine-life, including three resident Orca pods.
  Anacortes Community Forest Lands, 2,800 acres (11 km²) with 50 miles (80 km) of mountain biking and hiking trails, are a rare amenity in a city the size of Anacortes.  In adjacent Mount Erie Park, a number of rock climbing routes are popular on the cliffs of the south and west faces of Mount Erie. Mount Erie offers scenic vistas from its 1273-foot peak.
  Anacortes hosts many long-distance cyclists, as it is the western terminus of the Adventure Cycling Association's Northern Tier cross-country bicycle route, which ends in Bar Harbor, Maine.
  Anacortes is also home to The Business, a record store and concert venue voted Washington state's best record shop. Founded in 1978, the store is notable for its many musicians who have worked there, including Bret Lunsford, Phil Elverum and Karl Blau. The Business is located in the Alfred Olson Building which is part of the National Register of Historic Places.
caption: The 619 Commercial Avenue building
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-FZ5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:10:27 12:46:30", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "430", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[48, 30, 37044/625]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[122, 36, 60485/1341]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "1022/125", "Image GPSInfo": "6698", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6962", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7643", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "18/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:10:27 12:46:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:10:27 12:46:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-33/50", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6668", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "36", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}