Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

Today we drove to the Nisqually National Wildflife Refuge near Lacey. We walked along the Twin Barns Loop Trail with a side trip along the Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk Trail and back, overall a beautiful trail with nice sitings of wildlife, 4.6 miles overall.

We went counterclockwise on the Twin Barns Loop Trail, stopping at the Riparian Forest Overlook and the Nisqually River Overlook, views along this section

Along the Nisqually Estuary Trail towards the boardwalk, we had a nice view of some Olympic Peaks across Puget Sound

Views along the Boardwalk over the estuary

zoom of Mt Rainier above and below

Great blue heron and seals seen from the boardwalk

view near the Twin Barns

mallards and a beaver swimming in the freshwater wetlands as we finished the Twin Barns Loop Trail

Shine Tidelands and Wolfe Property State Parks

We drove across Hood Canal Bridge to the Shine Tidelands State Park parking area. From here, we did a beach walk up through Shine Tidelands State Park and Wolfe Property State Park to Whisky Spit, along the spit to the west, and on way back, we continued under the Hood Canal Bridge to get a view of some Olympic Peaks, overall 4.5 miles. Views along our beach walk, including a zoom of Glacier Peak to the east across Hood Canal

Views along Wolfe Property State Park

Where we crossed the water at low tide to reach Whisky Spit and views along the spit

More views along the spit, including a zoom of Mt Baker to the northeast

Back at Shine Tidelands State Park, looking at the Hood Canal Bridge, on the other side view including distant Olympic Peaks, zoom of the Brothers and Mt Constance

some of the shore birds we saw today, a barnacle covered moon snail shell

Masqui Trail

On our drive home, we stopped across from Mission British Columbia to walk the Masqui Trail on the other side of the Fraser River.This trail is also part of the Trans Canada Trail. We had hoped to hike from the Mission Bridge to Douglas Taylor Park and back, but found the trail closed for public safety near the Matsqui Slough, our trip was 2.5 miles round trip. View of the Mission Bridge across the Fraser River at the parking area where we started

View of Mt Baker to the south and a zoom of Mt Baker seen partway along the trail

Views along the Fraser River and zoom of comorants on a log in the river

Snow covered peaks seen to the north across the river, zoom of the peaks

Our turn around point on the trail today

Gladwin Pond is on a side trail