Olympic Peninsula

Okay, this post is going to have to be a two-parter. Really that makes sense because there are two separate trips I am documenting... the first of which was my trip to the Olympic Peninsula. I went up to Port Townsend in search of sea glass, which was a big success, and I had some bonus wildlife sightings as well. I left Hood River at about 5 am, which put me on the beach in Port Townsend at 9:45- perfect timing to make my 3 mile hike to glass beach right at low tide.



I saw these little least sandpipers along the way. Then I look out at the kelp beds and spot some movement, in the ripples I spy this family of sea otters headed for some exposed rocks:




At this point I almost had a heart attack, as otters have been my favorite ever since I wanted to be a marine biologist as a kid. I did a stellar project on them in 5th grade (which I still have and include amongst my greatest achievements). So they start to climb out on the rocks:






A little shake-off:




Cute overload: mom and baby snuggling



Some grooming, love the webbed feet!



Contemplating life as an otter:





Yawning (those teeth mean business)


I made some noise and they instantly gave me a look:








After loading my pockets with sea glass, I checked out the town of Port Townsend. Neat little Victorian seaport. Then I headed back south and decided to camp in the Olympic National Forest. I got up the next morning and hiked a trail near my site that went down into the Quilcene river canyon, through the rainforest. It was a lovely way to start the day.









Continuing down the coast of the Hood Canal, I stopped for lunch near a place my dad would have liked. There was this old rusty, bird-pooped-on boat that had some interesting characters roosting on it.






Juvenile brown pelican


gull ID eludes me









On my way back to Portland I stopped at Ridgefield NWR, one of my favorite birding spots. It was around dusk, and the place was hopping with raptors.


A juvenile red tailed hawk is concerned about me taking his mouse dinner.


mmmm... mouse

I hiked along the marshy Kiwa trail as the sun was setting. It was fantastic... a pair of great horned owls were hooting back and forth, presumably making dinner plans. This was the scenery:


Then I had the joy of watching a northern harrier hunting. It did all kinds of swoops and dives over the marsh. Here it was taking a break:


The sign at the entrance to the refuge told me that there was a peregrine falcon sighting... I was lucky enough to watch him hunt as well:


In the marsh, shorebirds were migrating through on their travels down the Pacific flyway. Here are some dowitchers:


and a solitary sandpiper (that is the species name, coincidentally, this guy was alone in the picture)



Herons in the last light



My seaglass bounty:


trying to identify what I found in my seaglass book:


Glass beach used to be a trash dump, they would just back the trucks up and dump over the bluffs. Over the years it has created some cool sea glass. One of the coolest things about sea glass is imagining how old it might be and where it came from (besides the fact that it is beautiful)...


pottery shards


bluish ones are from ball jars, greenish ones are from old coke bottles, and my best find is the marble in the middle.


dark greens, ambers, and the only piece of red I've ever found- it is the most rare color.


cobalt blues (old Milk of Magnesia, noxema, etc. bottles) and cornflower blue (Light blue was used before printed labels were adhered to bottles. Made with the same cobalt chemical as the darker glass. The product name was embossed on the glass and this was easier to read on a lighter color glass. When printed labels started to appear, the color of the bottle went darker.)


endless beer bottles


really weird opaques- possibly from depression-era vaseline glass


clear- most common, kelly green- also most common, the whites in the background are less common



Sea glass is quite addicting, and next spring when the tides are perfect I plan on heading back to Port Townsend for some more. I just need to get some flat, white plates to display it on. I am thinking plain rectangular, fondue-style plates would be awesome. Okay, this was a long one. The next post with the North Cascades trip will be coming soon...