Old Robe CanyonTrail 7-16-14

With beautiful summer weather and the light lingering late, I decided on a short after-work hike today.  Cedar and I headed up the Mountain Loop Highway to the Old Robe Trail.  I have hiked this only once before and it was in deep snow with it falling thick and fast the whole time.  This was the 1st time I would actually see the trail I was walking on. 
After a short jaunt through some small conifers and 5 easy switchbacks, we came out on the Robe Canyon floor.  Huge mossy maples stretched their limbs out over the trail and other deciduous trees towered above, shading the trail.  I was expecting it to be oven-like at the bottom, but it was actually quite nice.  There were some ponds and marshy areas though and I was not expecting bugs, so I did get gnawed on a bit. 

Soon we were at the banks of one of my very favorite rivers, the Stilliguamish.  It was gorgeous, babbling and shining in the sun.

 

A bit further, and going over dry creek beds, I saw the 1st sign of old ruins.  I'm not sure what this was.. maybe the remnants of a bridge or part of a building?

 

 Further yet, and I could see where the railroad had gone. First there was just the kind of cement and stones that I saw a lot of, and then further on and I could still see some of the wooden railroad ties with spikes in them.  It's amazing they built a railroad in this canyon at all and also amazing that any of it is left at all!

The canyon deepened and narrowed with the Stilly sometimes churning and thundering over rocks and sometimes hushing into turquoise pools.  I imagined the fish that might be in there.

Here was a little sluice that went under the railway to channel the water coming down the bank into the river.

 

 Suddenly looming ahead (a ways after the "go back, this is the end of the trail" sign) we saw the 1st tunnel!  I ran into very few people on the trail, but the last group had told me that the going was safe and easy even for Adventure Dog all the way to the 2nd tunnel.

The first tunnel was long and had a bend in it, so I actually put on my headlamp.  The second tunnel was short, but I didn't go in.  I just snapped a picture and that was our turnaround point.

On the way out I spied a water ouzel doing what water ouzels do best.  They are so fearless!  This one bobbed in and around all the frothing whitewater.  He landed on one rock where a gush of water washed him off, but nonplussed he just landed on a different rock.  This was a great hike!  I'll do it again for sure.

Northwest Trek 7-6-14

Pets aren't allowed at Northwest Trek, so Dave and I had to leave Adventure Dog home for this adventure.  It was a beautiful hot sunshiny day and neither of us had ever been to Northwest Trek.  Despite the heat of the day, the parking lots and walkways are well-designed under existing forest, so we didn't overheat and we didn't come back to a furnace either.  We just completely enjoyed the experience!
With your admission to Northwest Trek, you get a "tram" ride included.  This is a 3 sectioned bus that takes you on a guided tour of the large hooved mammal section of the park.  Our guide, Mike, was super informative and I learned a lot about antlers and horns, behaviors of the hooved mammals there and history of the area.  We saw bison, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, deer and caribou.  This was a GREAT time of year to go, as most of these animals had babies at their sides (awwwww).  The hooved mammal we did not see was a moose.  Apparently the park has 3 of them, but they must have been forwarned how much I would love to see a moose and brought my camera, so they were all hiding.  Along the nearly hour long ride, we also saw Canada geese, a beaver and I glimpsed a weasel run across the road but missed the pair of trumpeter swans.  Here are some of the pictures of the deer, goats and sheep we saw.

Besides the tram ride animals, we spent a couple lovely hours meandering around viewing the various other northwest denizons' enclosures.  It did seem to get busier in the later afternoon, but this park was far far less crowded than the zoos usually are and I felt we were able to view the animals better as well. 
The other animals included black bear, brown bear, cougar (which we didn't see), lynx, coyotes, raccoons, fishers, beavers, otters, a wolverine, birds of prey, and wolves among others.  (sorry a couple of these are blurry)

 

 

 

 

This last picture is of a fisher who is being lured toward her 'holding area' with meat.  She was being lured there by the keepers who were then going to have to go in and retrieve someone's water bottle that was thrown or dropped in.  I was really impressed with all the staff I interacted with.   Even though there were several of them trying to solve the water bottle issue, they still took the time to explain the situation, answer people's questions and didn't mind that I was bobbing around in the way trying to get pictures and video.  There was another staff members feeding the beavers and she also answered my question about what they were being fed in a very friendly and thorough way. 

I was super excited to see a wolverine up close and completely charmed by this formidable animal.

I highly recommend Northwest Trek and will definitely go again!

Craft Island 5-29-14

Although the sky was cloudy as if pondering rain Cedar and I needed an adventure, so we headed out for Fir Island.  I had read on the internet that dogs were allowed on leash, but when we arrived there were signs everywhere that said 'No Dogs' and 'Pets Must Remain in Car.'  Bummer!  But we were close to Craft Island and the clouds were making way for sunshine, so we headed a bit further to a place we are familiar with.
It was just gorgeous under the sun.  The marsh grasses were all greened up, wild irises and roses were blooming, and multitudes of birds were singing.

We walked everywhere we could find a path.  First we waded out through the tall grass along the road by the irrigation ditch.  There were a lot of caterpillar nests along the way.

 

We could have walked forever along that high path overlooking marshes, but we came to a No Trespassing Bird.

So we went back out along other paths, sometimes muddy ones.  We crossed the channels of water on convenient logs and admired wild iris.

A couple fighter jets were practicing overhead for a bit.  They were not too noisy and very fast.  I was surprised I caught them on my first try.

We meandered along and soon found ourselves actually at Craft Island.  My goal wasn't to get to it, but to wander and soak up the sun and sounds.  Since we had made it though, we went ahead and climbed it and looked out over the waves. We saw eagles and geese, but too far away for clear pictures.  Wildflowers were everywhere and Cedar and I had the whole place to ourselves.

On our walk back an eagle flew right overhead!  It was so huge and close.  This one was a bit further out, but just as impressive.

 

There was also a small hawk of some sort hunting over a patch of cattails and reeds.  Very sleek and aerodynamic.

What I don't have pictures of is how the tide continued to come in and fill the channels, so on the way back our little logs were bobbing instead of providing convenient bridges.  Adventure Dog fell in between two of them and struggled for a minute and I waded in to get him, slipped in the mud and went in almost to my waist.  Then when I pulled him out we were on the wrong side still so I had to jump and he had to swim.  We were drenched, but it was a lot of fun and all the electronics stayed dry!  What a great Thursday afternoon!