Day Three
February 23, 2014
Soundtrack:
- The National -- High Violet
- Bob Dylan -- The Rolling Thunder Revue
Sunday. My parents attend church regularly. I avoid church regularly. I was on my own for the day. So, I planned to head up to Rainier. It's about three hours away from my parents' house. That's a reasonable day trip distance for me. I've never been there. It should be fun.
 |
| Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA |
I didn't make it to Rainier. I got distracted.
 |
| Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA |
 |
| Pied-billed Grebe |
When I saw the sign along I-5 for Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, I immediately changed my plans. Well, not quite immediately. I thought I might have time to do both, but if not I would fall back to plan B, which was to see how close I could get to Mt. St. Helens from the North (suspecting that the Johnston Ridge Observatory would be closed for the season). One of the great things about travelling alone is that plans can be just rough sketches that are tossed out on a whim if something interesting comes along.
 |
| Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA |
 |
| Nutria |
I began with the Ridgefield auto tour. I saw three bald eagles on the drive. They sure have made a comeback. I grew up in Salem and spent plenty of time going up and down the stretch of I-5 between Seattle and Salem. I never saw a bald eagle when I was a kid. Now they're downright common in Washington, and almost as common in Oregon. If you need proof that taking environmental action can have a positive impact, look no farther than our national symbol. Nice to see the bald eagle isn't going the way of California's official animal the grizzly bear, which can no longer be found in the state. There is hope for the future.
 |
| Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA |
I enjoyed the auto tour. There wasn't a huge number of birds and animals to see, but there was enough to keep it fun. It's a beautiful area. I'm going to have to visit in the summer. I suppose there won't be a lot of birds, but I'd like to see how this place changes through the seasons.
 |
| Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA |
There's a nice walking tour at Ridgefield as well. It winds through both forest and wetlands. I didn't see a whole lot of animals, but it was the middle of the day so that wasn't too surprising. There was a beaver lodge in one of the large ponds. Beaver have made a big comeback, too, at least around Salem. That's another animal I never saw as a kid. We spent a lot of our summer days on the Willamette River, too. I went canoeing with my brother a few years ago and they were all over on the river.
 |
| Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA |
After wrapping up the walking tour, there was no chance of making it to Rainier with any amount of light. So, I headed toward Mt. St. Helens.
 |
| Silver Lake, WA |
There's a visitor's center at Silver Lake. It has a nice one mile trail that makes for an easy, peaceful hike. Don't bother paying admission to see the visitor's center's exhibits, it's a half-assed experience.
 |
| Hoffstadt Bluffs, WA |
I continued up 504 toward St. Helens until I got to the forest learning center. It was raining and I was entering the snow zone and it was starting to get dark, so I decided to turn around and head back. For the second visit in a row for me, I'd made a trip to Mt. St. Helens without getting a single photo of the mountain. At some point in the early afternoon the clouds had come in and completely obscured the damned thing. I'm sure I'll get another crack at it someday.
 |
| Hoffstadt Creek, WA |
No comments:
Post a Comment