What a perfect hike for the winter. When there is snow up in the hills, turn to the islands. It was sprinkling as I headed out with Cedar and a friend of mine to the Mukilteo/Clinton Ferry, but close to Clinton he spotted some dolphins to starboard and that was pretty cool. I hadn't seen harbor porpoises in a long time, and even a glimpse of their backs and dorsals coming up through the water was a real treat.
This 5+ mile hike started out at the Ebey's Landing area, specifically Prairie Overlook, next to a lovely cemetary. I didn't think people would want Cedar watering their loved ones' headstones, or I might have been tempted to wander through and look at some of the inscriptions. As I pulled into the parking area, a beautiful male pheasant walked in front of the car and then flew over a nearby fence. Prairie Overlook looked over some lovely old farmhouses and a patchwork of farmland.
From there the trail went down to a gravel road and then out to the bluff. The sun came out then and lit up the water, which was pretty calm. Seabirds and kelp dotted the surface. The trail followed along the top of the bluff next to the edge of a forest of windswept gnarled firs about 250-300 feet above the beach for about 2 miles.
The sun was quite warm and the view was just non-stop gorgeous.
A lot of cargo ships were going in and out of the Sound and I also spotted the Victoria Clipper.
Just as we began to descend, we saw a hawk sitting in one of the trees on the bluff.
We ate lunch on the driftwood logs, and then headed back toward Ebey's Landing, a 2 mile beach walk. It was lovely, and a breeze was blowing that felt great after walking all that way. There are some agates on that beach, but very few shells.
Another odd thing was that in many places bull kelp had apparently been buried upside down, so just the roots were sticking straight up out of the sand.
The tide was pretty high, so I couldn't tell if it would be a good tidepooling beach. Cedar found a dead gumboot chiton though (which he rolled on) and I found a dead jellyfish (which I did not roll on).
We also saw a submarine with a Coast Guard guard.
Once back to Ebey's landing, it was steps back up to the prairie farmland, and across to the car. Walking so far through the sand was a great workout. My car felt very far away as we went that last stretch. Cedar was apparently still feeling frisky though, because he pounced into the grass and caught a vole! I should have taken a picture of it to prove I have a hunting dog now.
This is definitely a hike I'll come back to!
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