Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Fall Hike

 We drove down to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge off of I-5 just north of Lacey this morning for a nice walk between rain showers. There is a one mile loop trail that goes through forest, grasslands and freshwater marshes, there are some short side trails to a riparian forest overlook, the Nisqually River overlook and to the twin barns observation platform.  There is also a 3 mile long hike (round trip) on the Nisqually Estuary Trail . We did about 4.5 miles of walking along the trails.
We saw lots of ducks swimming in the freshwater marshes.
We also saw several great blue herons, canadian geese, and many small birds today.

 There were a few trees starting to turn colors, but most of them were still green.

 We saw a few flowers still in bloom.

 The tide was just beginning to go out while we were there, so the water level was high.

From the viewing platform at the end of the boardwalk, looking south along the boardwalk.

From the viewing platform at the end of the boardwalk, looking west to north

From the viewing platform at the end of the boardwalk, looking north to east out to Puget Sound

 Far to the northeast, we could see the Narrows Bridge.

 There were lots of interesting trees as well.

Some of the flowers and plants we saw today: