Low Tide Gifts from the Sea

Every year around the summer solstice, we see the lowest tides of the year along Salish Sea/Puget Sound shorelines. While there are almost as low tides in December, wouldn't you rather explore the beach in June too?

You'll find me out there clutching my camera(s), roaming the beaches near my home. I'm fortunate that there is a great beach for exploring only a 10-minute drive away. Volunteer naturalists from places like the Seattle Aquarium are out there to answer questions and point things out.

It's a beach party.

About a dozen years ago, a wasting disease gutted the sea star population along the West Coast of North America (I'm not sure about elsewhere). So I've been thrilled the last few years to see so many healthy sea stars, which I grew up calling starfish.

Ochre sea stars, crimson red sea cucumbers lurking below to the right.

 

Last year I spotted a now-rare sunflower sea star that looked healthy, which was a find. Sea star wasting disease killed more than 90% of the sunflower sea stars, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Sunflower sea star, partially in shadow.

Knowing parking would be difficult near the time of the lowest tide, I came about an hour early and parked at the lot halfway up the hill and walked down, two cameras and my smartphone in hand. After about a 15-minute walk down to Golden Gardens Park in north Seattle, I finally got to the beach and bee-lined towards water's edge.

I stepped carefully, trying to avoid the rich eelgrass habitat and inadvertently stepping on livings things like anemones, crabs, sea stars, or other tidelands life.

“When the tide is out, the table is set” is a familiar saying among Native communities on the Northwest Coast. They developed traditional ecological knowledge that was passed down for generations about intertidal marine resources. I thought of this when I passed a crow jumping around, looking for a meal. And when a squirt of water from a clam burrowed beneath the sand hits me.

Big, flat expanses of exposed sandy beach don't provide the best low tide beachcombing. Instead, I headed to the north beach, where there are more boulders, with sea stars, anemones, sea cucumbers, and such clinging to the large barnacle-encrusted rocks.

 

So many rich colors, shapes, and textures! I'm no naturalist, but I do wonder how their coloring has evolved.

While I roamed quickly during the relatively short low tide window, trying to see as much as possible, chatting with others, calling out when we spot a juicy find, I considered a different path I might have taken in marine biology. But I didn't consider it for long, as I lacked the patience required for scientific methodology in most of my science classes.

Mostly, when I'm out there at our lowest tides, I'm just excited to spot weird, wonderful, and colorful flora and fauna.

How about you? Have you done much low tide exploring here, or anywhere?

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Federation Forest State Park: Walking among the Elders

I'm still here! Sorry, it has been a while since my last post, although I'm still posting photos regularly on other social media platforms (see links at bottom of this post). Enjoy!

While I've spent the majority of my life in western Washington, I can still be surprised by places I've passed often but never visited. Recently I had the surprising pleasure of walking through some remnant old growth forest at Federation Forest State Park near Greenwater, Washington. 

I've seriously driven past this park hundreds of times on my way to skiing at Crystal Mountain or hiking at Mt. Rainier or Chinook Pass and beyond. But on this day, I drove alone to pick up my skis at Crystal Mountain (long story). So I decided to stop wherever on the way home and stretch my legs.

After my usual stop at charming Wapiti Woolies store in Greenwater for some hot tea (and a hat that was on sale), I drove a few miles west on Highway 410 to the park. Only one other car was in the lot when I pulled up; then I started walking through younger forest carpeted in extensive green moss.

Along the way, I spotted springtime treasures, like native trillium that's already past its spring peak in the lowlands.

 

Did I mention that it was a drippy, gently raining day in the mountains? (It was snowing up at Crystal Mountain a few thousand feet higher.) Our Pacific Northwest forests and their inhabitants love a quenching rain, especially the moss.

 As I neared the White River, I started seeing bigger, mossy-trunk trees scattered amongst the youngsters.

I found a side trail heading down to the river's edge and snapped a few shots of the fresh spring green trees across the river. 

While strolling with an eye to the forest floor as much as to the towering trees above, I spotted several tiny fairy slipper native Calypso orchids. I felt that same thrill as when spotting morel or chanterelle mushrooms.

Do you ever tell yourself you should think about turning around, but you're drawn onward? That's how I felt while walking through this forest. I lingered longer than I planned, enchanted by the lush green life all around and sensing secrets held by this ancient forest. And I felt bittersweet, knowing our whole region used to be blanketed by such forest, and today it's fragmented and so little remains.

After about an hour, I turned around and headed back to my car, with a couple other stops to make. I'd like to come back and spend more time on these gentle trails. Have you been? 

Do you have a favorite old growth forest in the region or beyond? I'd love to hear in a comment below!

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.

 

 

Thanksgiving 2023: Still Here and Grateful

 

Happy Thanksgiving season! I have intended on blogging more this year, but somehow the days, weeks, and months are flying by without any updates. So I'm here to say: Still here, lurking, and grateful, as always.

In the photo below, I'm swimming in the Salish Sea, which I've been doing a lot this past year. If you follow other Pacific Northwest Seasons social media accounts (see links below), you'll see numerous shots from regular swims in the sea with the Selkies, my homegrown swimming pod.

Honestly, "wild" swimming has moved ahead of hiking, kayaking, and even skiing as my primary outdoors activity this past year. Lots of gratitude for the Salish Sea, swimming in the sea, new friends (and old) who share this passion with me, and for the friendly seals we see quite often while we swim.

Of course I'm grateful for getting outdoors and the joy of movement, especially for some spectacular days hiking along the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park last summer. I am intending on blogging about it and likely will. It was such a thrill and joy to be invited by some good friends to be a part of a fun, scenic, rewarding, and memorable adventure!

Grinnell Glacier overlook, Glacier National Park, Montana

Bighorn sheep, awfully close to the trail. Glacier National Park.

I'm also grateful for my little fur nugget, Mittens (aka Yuki - it's a long story), who has been inside sharing my home for almost 2 years now after living outside as a feral for almost 10 years. While she's still quite skittish, she is the most affectionate cat I've been fortunate to call my pet (number four). 

I can tell I'm rusty on blogging, as this is a bit of a slapdash post. But while there is a lot be be concerned and alarmed about in our world today, there is much to be grateful for as well. I have always cultivated simple pleasures in my life, like the perfect pot of tea each morning, talks (and now more texts) and walks with friends and family, mini road trips and getaways like the marvelous day last Friday with two dear friends to get fresh seafood on Hood Canal, and so much more.

Hamma Hamma Oysters, Hood Canal, WA

While I would like to be a bit more profound, I'll keep it simple this year. I'm just happy to be here, for good health, for good friends and dear family, and the beauty of my home region. 

If you found your way here and are still reading, I'd love to hear some things you're grateful for this year in a comment below.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.

Winter 2023 in the Pacific Northwest: It's a Wrap

 

Did you have a good winter this year? 

Winter is finally loosening its grip here in the Pacific Northwest. The mountains are still getting snow, and plenty of it, so spring skiing will continue well into April.

As I write this, it's raining and cold out (in the high 30sF), after a few teaser days of sunshine and temps in the low 60s. I'll be skiing this weekend in fresh snow. But I know it's not for long now, and spring is really happening.

For this skier and nature nerd, the last few months have offered some great days on the slopes and trails. The new year began with, of course, a swim in the Salish Sea on a cold, breezy day. What an exhilarating way to start the new year!

Ballard Wild Swimmers on New Year's Day

My swimming pod kept it up all season with some glorious cold sunny days and stormy, rainy days. We made it through the winter swimming/dipping every week, and one week went every other day!

Sunset swim, Shilshole Bay, February 10, 2023

My ski season started in January (my Ikon ski pass has blackout dates over the holidays), with plenty of snow coming down at Crystal Mountain, just north of Mt. Rainier, SE of Seattle. It was snowing all day, which is a true test for goggles (mine earned about a grade D). But always a thrill nonetheless.

Taking a break on a warm-up run in off Forest Queen, Crystal Mountain

My next trip up in February was a perfect bluebird morning, with the mountain out in all its hunky fabulousness. We had to stop and get the requisite top of Green Valley with Rainier in the background shot. I have many shots of myself and friends here over the years.

But the peak skiing this past winter was my first trip north of the border to Whistler-Blackcomb in over 20 years. The village had grown beyond recognition from my last visit, but then the Olympics there in 2010 gave it a boost. We cross-country skied the first afternoon and last morning, bracketing a glorious day skiing mostly at the top of Blackcomb on Seventh Heaven and Glacier Express area.

Top of Seventh Heaven, with Coast Range beyond.

I enjoyed my first real après ski in years at the Wizard Grill in Whistler Village. You're never too old to dance and group sing along. While we made our own breakfasts at our timeshare in the village, we also had a great dinner out at Caramba, a popular Italian restaurant.

Girls' weekend

Between trips to Crystal and Whistler, there were some winter walks in the woods in some Seattle parks. There's beauty in the sparse winter forest too. A steady rain accompanied me during a January walk in South Seattle's Seward Park below. 

As winter drew to a calendar close last weekend (and temps broke 60 degrees F!), I celebrated with a hike with some of my favorite women in one of my book clubs (Alpine Trails) at one of my favorite places (Deception Pass State Park). I took off my jacket and enjoyed the relative warmth in such a beautiful place.

Deception Pass Bridge

And the day before, I also celebrated the end of winter/coming spring with a swim with the S Pod (or most of it) on a brilliant late winter day.  While the water is still pretty darn cold and won't really start warming up for another several weeks, we lingered on the beach in the sun afterwards. It was marvelous.

As Seanna said, towel sarongs are a thing here.

So that's a taste of a Pacific Northwest winter in western Washington/British Columbia. The weather has been a bit colder than whatever normal used to be. It has been a great ski season, but we're looking forward to warmer and drier days ahead.

How was your winter?

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.

Thanksgiving 2022: Seeking Wonder

As I ponder gratitude around Thanksgiving each year, a theme often surfaces. This year, I've been thinking a lot about wonder. Each time I experience or witness something that makes me smile or gasp in awe and wonder, I'm grateful.

These moments take us out of our everyday world and anxieties slip away. I can't put it better than this quote (I found online here):

Wonder helps to put our place in the world into perspective. It not only allows us to see beauty in a crabapple; it reminds us that we are finite and that we are a part of something much greater than our ability to comprehend it. 

Every time I see a sunrise or sunset that stops me in my tracks, witness a solar or lunar eclipse, or spot some wild orcas in the Salish Sea, I feel this awe.

There are a zillion things that can elicit a sense of wonder or awe. 

 

For this blog post, I was initially thinking about natural phenomena, not all of which I could photograph. Actually, thank goodness I wasn't disrupting some of these moments by taking pictures!

As I mentioned in my last post about open water swimming, there was that incredible night this past summer swimming through tiny sparkles of bioluminescent light in the dark Salish Sea. And the sunset that preceded the experience:

Chuckanut Bay sunset.

Hiking through a grove of golden subalpine larches, which I call unicorn trees, is another wondrous experience. People flock by the hundreds (maybe thousands?) to the most popular larch hikes in the region in a frenzy of "Larch Madness" each autumn. These conifers that glow golden for a few short weeks each October seem to cast a spell and draw you onward, wanting more.

I treasure memories of many nights sleeping under the stars during meteorite showers. Spotting a shooting star is truly one of the most awe-filled things to witness.

An especially vivid meteorite encounter was a peak experience, literally and figuratively. As my friend Matt and I neared the summit of Mt. Adams predawn one August morning many years ago, a brilliant shooting star streaked low across the horizon, not much higher than where we stood high on the 12,000-foot-tall mountain.

Mt. St. Helens from the Lunch Counter on Mt. Adams

In 2017, I was fortunate to witness a total solar eclipse from a friend's farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley. I was gobsmacked by that 90 seconds. The image of that black sun with spiky tendrils of light shooting out all around is a moment I will never ever forget.

Photo by Allen Denver.

In 2020, while the world was upended by the first wave of COVID-19, Comet NEOWISE was visible for weeks in the Northern Hemisphere. Several times I drove, binoculars in hand, to the darkest viewing spot I could find near my home in Seattle to see it, seemingly immobile in the night sky.

Sorry I don't know the artist name to give credit, but isn't this a splendid painting of NEOWISE?

Hummingbirds also enchant me, and I always love to hear and spot them. They're an amazing marvel of physics and speed. To the Coast Salish people, they were a sign of good luck.

And the Aurora Borealis! I finally saw them shimmering in curtains of green across the night sky about a year ago. I called a stargazer friend to narrate how awesome and wondrous it was as I watched them dance across northern horizon. I think I kept on saying "THIS IS SO AWESOME!"

 As I was thinking about writing this post, I was trying to catalogue my top wonder experiences (most mentioned above). But then I realized I could write all day about the wonder and awe we can feel every day if we pay attention.

Mt. Rainier/Tahoma sunset from Bainbridge Ferry

So this Thanksgiving/holiday season, I'm feeling gratitude for the capacity to witness and feel wonder. 

May you, too, allow yourself to notice and experience a sense of wonder, today and every day. And I'd love to hear in a comment below some of your wonder moments.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.