 ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Shorebirds, mainly western sandpipers and dunlins,
hover over Bottle Beach on Grays Harbor as they feed and then head to Alaska and the Arctic to breed. |
July 30, 2004 Walking trails on the Olympic Peninsula and Washington Coast
Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge (Hoquiam)A beautiful boardwalk winds through the salt marsh and tidal flats and offers benches and a pair of mounted binoculars. Kalaloch Creek Nature Trail (Kalaloch) Despite its proximity to the highway, the sound of the nearby ocean dominates the forest, along with the trickling patter of the creeks crossed by the trail's tiny, primitive footbridges. Manchester State Park trails (Port Orchard) This lovely park situated on Middle Point boasts 3,400 feet of saltwater shoreline on Rich Passage in Puget Sound, as well as an unusual military history. Maple Glade Rain Forest Trail (Lake Quinault) A wooden bridge leads over Kestner Creek to a gorgeous glade upholstered in moss and carpeted with sword ferns near the north shore of Lake Quinault. Rain Forest Nature Trail (Quinault) This education-packed walk near the south shore of Lake Quinault offers an excellent introduction to the rain forest of the Quinault River Valley. Ruby Beach (North of Kalaloch) Ruby Beach, located at the northern end of the stretch of beaches in the Kalaloch area, gets its name from the reddish sand that concentrates there in occasional patches. Theler Wetlands Trail (Belfair) This award-winning, 135-acre preserve lies where the Union River empties into the end of Hood Canal, a 60-mile extension of Puget Sound. Twin Harbors Beach State Park (Westport) This lovely park on the Washington coast lies in the midst of an 18-mile expanse of sandy beaches that make up the South Beach, or Cranberry Coast, area on the south side of Grays Harbor. |
|
|
