Why We Live Here: Orca Watching in Puget Sound

Orcas in central Puget Sound, October 8, 2012. Photo by Alisa Lemire Brooks.

One of the many things I love about living here in the Pacific Northwest is how the stunning beauty and wonder of the natural world overlaps with urban life, often without much warning. Like sighting orcas in Puget Sound from a downtown Seattle highrise, as many did yesterday. And how these thrills bring people together.

After getting a text alert from my sister mid-morning that orcas were spotted heading south in Puget Sound, I grabbed my binoculars, hopped in the car, and sped (yes, broke the speed limit) to Carkeek Park near my home. While I'm a native-born Seattleite and lived here most of my life, these magnificent marine mammals have eluded me in my home waters. 

Until yesterday.

It started with a series of updates on the Orca Network's Facebook page: 

"At least seven orcas were seen by the morning sun at 9 am in Admiralty Inlet, heading south between Mutiny Bay and Foulweather Bluff, headed toward Point No Point."

Mother orca with baby, Puget Sound, October 8, 2012. Photo by Alisa Lemire Brooks.

My sis texted me when local Seattle TV stations shared footage of a "superpod" being VERY active near Point No Point and continuing south. A superpod no less! Aerial footage from a chopper showed orcas arcing up out of the water, dorsal fins pointing high, and diving back under in huge splashes. Awesome.

As I parked at the bluff overlooking the Sound at Carkeek, I jumped out of the car and breathlessly asked the guy sitting on the bench:

"Have you seen the orcas yet?"

He hadn't and didn't even know to look for them, but Jeremy and I ended up sharing my binoculars for the next 40 minutes as we spotted many orcas spouting, breaching, and splashing several miles across the Sound between Kingston and Bainbridge Island.

Seasoned orca watchers Alisa and Ed showed up soon after me, with more expensive binoculars in hand. These friendly folks pointed out things I wouldn't have noticed.

"Adult male breaching.  Mother with baby just south of the white sailboat off Indianola. Several now heading into Port Madison."  

Puget Sound orcas with Edmonds-Kingston ferry in distance. Photo by Alisa Lemire Brooks.

  As Ed rattled off these sightings, Alisa was sending sighting updates to the Orca Network FaceBook page. They had started up north in Edmonds earlier in the morning, where they watched the orcas near the ferry terminal before heading south.

I followed Ed and Alisa down to Golden Gardens, a few miles south and jutting farther west into Puget Sound. There in the golden glow of an unseasonably sunny and mild October afternoon, we watched more orcas put on a show that no doubt thrilled hundreds or thousands of us watching from the land and boats.  

As a female breached much closer to us than the others, I knew the spectacular image would be seared in my memory forever. The sense of awe and wonder surging through me felt just like each of those shooting stars I saw last summer.

October 1, 2012. Photo by Alisa Lemire Brooks.

In addition to a thrill of a lifetime to see these orcas near my home, what will stay with me is the friendliness of the several people I met.  

Forget the so-called Seattle Freeze.  Everyone was as excited and happy as a kid to be in the presence of our resident orcas making an unusual trip this far south.  Heck, I even passed out my business cards and learned about a new restaurant that Brian hopes to open in Ballard next year. Most of us figured out our two to three degrees of separation.

As they used to say, there's only a thousand real people in Seattle and we all know each other.  There's less than 90 resident orcas in Puget Sound, and they no doubt all know each other, too.

Orca off Alki Point, October 8, 2012. Photo by Christina Watson.

How about you? Did you see the orcas yesterday? If not, I hope you're able to see them soon. Check out the Orca Network regularly for sightings.

How to Help
The Puget Sound orcas are endangered and need our help. As of May 2012, the population of the endangered southern resident orcas was 88, 26 in J pod, 20 in K pod, and 42 in L pod. Here's a link to information on the National Marine Fisheries Service Orca Recovery Plan. It remains to be seen if, through our efforts, the population can be stabilized to a sustainable level.  But think about donating your time and $$ to organizations such as the Orca Network, which is dedicated to raising awareness of Pacific Northwest whales and the importance of providing them healthy and safe habitats.

North Cascades Institute Getaway: Great Hiking, Fab Food, and an Environmental Ethos

With more than a half a dozen weekend trips already to the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake, I'm clearly a fan.  

Besides the tasty, locally sourced meals and beautiful mountain lakeside setting, many other things make the "ELC" a special place. Like the laid back staff (no city stress on their faces), earnest college interns, interesting fellow visitors, and the comfy LEED-certified campus that blends harmoniously with its setting at the base of Sourdough Mountain on the edge of North Cascades National Park.


This past weekend a friend and I were there for a Sourdough Speaker event, where visitors can get a taste of the place (literally and figuratively) with an overnight stay and guest speaker.

We arrive at the center mid-afternoon on Saturday after a leisurely 3-hour drive from Seattle along backroads past Darrington and Rockport, then up the upper Skagit River Valley. Before dinner we get settled in the spacious Pine building on campus and go explore the Sourdough Creek trail through the forest behind the ELC.

Sourdough Creek Trail

 
Early fall in this subalpine locale is cranking up, but we're still mostly ahead of the real fall colors.  

Vine maple on the ELC campus

At least once a season the Sourdough Speaker series features regional chefs, wild food foragers, or farmers who focus on eating sustainably within our local foodsheds. Edible Seattle magazine editor Jill Lightner and Skagit Valley organic Blue Heron Farm owner Anne Schwartz are on hand this Saturday evening to discuss local farm and food policies in our state.

But beforehand as we're gathered in the dining hall, NCI Chef Shelby Slater enthusiastically describes our meal.  

"Your dinner tonight was sourced 98 percent locally," he says, then describes the honey lavendar goat cheese from the Methow Valley and the grass-fed beef, line-caught salmon, and fruit and veggies from Skagit Valley farms. 

The man is as giddy as a kid when he talks of working with local producers and growers.  His passion shines through in our splendid feast.

Usually I'm a bit of a night owl, but tonight sleep comes much earlier than normal in the quiet of a mountain night. I wake up before sunrise, refreshed and free of my usual morning dragginess, and go for a walk down along the lake.

Breaking dawn, Diablo Lake

While there is a naturalist-led hike planned after breakfast as part of the weekend event, we opt instead to hike the Diablo Lake trail from the ELC property to the base of Ross Lake Dam. The current ELC does owe its existence partly to Seattle City Light, which funded much of the facility construction as mitigation for its Skagit Dam hydroelectric project permit renewal.

Don't let the name "Diablo Lake" trail fool you. It's not really a lakeside trail. While much of the fairly mellow trail meanders through forest and over old rockslides well above the lake, we finally catch some spectacular views of the surrounding peaks and the lake/former river canyon far below, over a mile from the ELC.

Pyramid Peak

Pyramid Peak and Diablo Lake

Vehicles being barged up Skagit River Canyon

Instead of hiking all the way down to the suspension bridge just below the base of the dam, we turn around about 1.5 miles into the hike. Three miles is about all we have time for today with a several-hour drive home ahead.

With reluctance, we pack up and head back to the city. But it's always hard for me to leave this place, the North Cascades, and the heady scent of forest and mountain sunshine. 

I'll be back.

How about you? Have you participated in any NCI programs? We'd love to hear about your experience there in the comments below.

When You Go 
There are several more great weekends coming up this fall at the ELC.  Check out their schedule here. Here are directions to NCI from both the west and east side of the Cascade Mountains. Also know that the fee you pay for these programs partially funds the Mountain School environmental education programs for local grade school kids from around the region.

If you'd like to see a few photos of the buildings and learn a little more about it's mission, click here to a blog post I wrote about NCI a few years ago.




 

Point No Point: Fishing, Birdwatching, and Northwest History

While I'm a local girl with family roots in the Puget Sound region extending back over 140 years, there are still many places around here I've never been.  The way I see it, there's more than a lifetime's worth of places to explore close by, like Point No Point (Hahd-Skus as the local Indians called it) on the northeasternmost point of Kitsap Peninsula, just a ferry ride across the Sound from the Seattle area.

A few weeks ago a couple friends and I headed there early on a Saturday morning for a photography outing.  After Cameron picked us up at the Bainbridge ferry, with a bag of warm muffins from a local bakery  to share (bless him!), we drove north about 25 minutes. Our route passed through the Port Madison Indian Reservation and bucolic pastures en route to Point No Point, land's end, in Hansville.

First ferry of the day from Seattle arriving at Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island

Since we arrived early, we were there with the birders and fishers (mostly men but a few women, too). On this low-lying spit of land, a wetland below the lighthouse is a birder's haven. And most of the former mighty Puget Sound salmon runs pass by here, making it a seasonal magnet for local fishermen and women.

Fly fishers at Point No Point, facing eastward

The guy on the left  with a couple silver salmon had better luck than most today.

While reveling in the fresh  sea air on this cool September morning, we took lots of pictures and did a little exploring.  A trail south from the lighthouse extends past wetlands, and we stopped at a nice viewing platform just off the trail for some more shots. We didn't see many birds, but a great blue heron did grace us with his presence in the marsh below.

Trail to bird viewing platform, wetland to the right.

Driftwood sculpture...or not?

In the the late 1870s the lighthouse was established here at Point No Point (the first on Puget Sound). Today the historic lighthouse is no longer functioning, but it was just restored and reopened a few months ago as a symbol of the region's historic lighthouses. 

Historic Point No Point Lighthouse

And this point was the site of the sweeping Treaty of Point No Point in 1855, where  local Indian Tribes (S'Klallam,  Chimakum, and Skokomish) were essentially bullied into ceding their land from the Olympic Mountains on the west all the way to the Cascade Mountains on the east to the U. S. government.  While the tribes were provided token reservation land to inhabit, an important trade-off  was the allowance of hunting and fishing rights, which persist today.

I'm tempted to grab some friends and come over here some weekend to spend the night at the former lighthouse keeper's house, which has been converted into a duplex, half of which is available for rent.  I can see it now - relaxing on the covered porch with a nightcap and then again in the morning with a cup of tea. 

What are you memories of Point No Point? Have you stayed at the lighthouse keeper's house? Would love to hear in the comments below!

When You Go
This link has directions to drive to Point No Point.   Here's a link to rental information.  There's a two-night minimum stay on weekends and it costs $215/night. We took the Bainbridge ferry from Seattle, but if you're north of downtown, the Edmonds-Kingston ferry is closer. For a good article about the lighthouse history, here's a story from the Seattle Times.

Exploring Western Olympic National Park: Sol Duc, Hoh Rainforest, and Rialto Beach

Sol Duc Falls (all photos by Steve Nelson)

Today's guest post is by my friend Betty, who recently spent several days camping near Sol Doc Hot Springs in Washington's Olympic National Park. This is the locale of my first week-long backpacking trip as a teen, so it's an area near and dear to me, and fabulous place to visit.

Mushrooms growing on trees. A big waterfall. Tall stately trees with moss hanging from branches. Brown pelicans and eagles overhead. Sea stars and anemones in the water.

Our recent trip to Washington's Olympic National Park offered stimuli for the senses and solace for the soul. And we also enjoyed a soak in hot spring pools with people from around the world.

We rolled into Sol Duc valley campground on Wednesday afternoon before Labor Day weekend and found a site with a decent-sized flat spot for a tent, picnic table, and fire grate. A little drizzle caused us to be blue tarp campers for a day. Fortunately, the light rain ended that night.

Some of the heaviest rainfall on the planet here on the western side of the Olympic Mountains makes the Sol Duc River valley, in the northwest edge of the park, green and lush. It’s a wonderful place to visit during the wet season (three-quarters of the year) but easier to camp during the dry summer. 

The next day we headed to the trailhead at the end of the road, where backcountry trips to Seven Lakes Basin often start. With almond butter/ jam/fresh strawberry sandwiches (fresh strawberries make an almond butter and jam sandwich quite delicious) and all the other essentials in our packs, we hiked to the main attraction, less than a mile up the trail:  Sol Duc Falls. 

  

We joined the admiring throng of people for a few minutes at the waterfalls, then turned right after the bridge and resumed our trek to Deer Lake, about 3  miles up the trail. The crowds dissipated and the trail turned rocky, with careful footing required. Mushrooms and tall trees with moss-covered branches entranced us on this trail that roughly follows the course of Canyon Creek. 

Deer Lake

After a lunch break at one of the backcountry camps on the way up, we reached Deer Lake, where we saw tents set up across the lake. At the alpine lakeshore, we relaxed on a log before hiking back down to cook dinner at our campsite. Our evening treat was a $3 shower at the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort.

  

On Friday, the Hoh Rain Forest, about 2 hours drive from Sol Duc, and Rialto Beach beckoned. At the small Hoh visitor center, we bought pocket guides on mushrooms and birds after enjoying the interesting exhibits and helpful staff. 

 

Two short nature trails (the Hall of Mosses and the Spruce Nature Trail) offer easy interpretive hikes. We chose the mosses trail for many wow moments looking at big trees, some swathed in club moss. This area averages 142 inches of rain annually, which is almost four times that of Seattle.

Lots of 'shrooms in the Hoh Rainforest love all that rain.

Back on Highway 101, we headed north through Forks and then to Rialto Beach, one of the many wild Pacific Coast beaches within Olympic National Park. At Rialto, the parking lot is right next to the beach, so access is easy. Wind and temps about 10 degrees cooler than inland prompted us to throw on a couple layers before walking north along the beach. 

Sea stack at Rialto Beach

 

Within minutes we saw two bald eagles and flocks of big birds. After a few minutes of gazing through binoculars, we realized they were brown pelicans; seeing them was quite a treat. 

Brown pelicans off Rialto Beach

The tide was going out for another couple of hours, so we had plenty of time to check out the tide pools at Hole in the Wall, a rock formation passable only during low tide. A few parties were carrying backpacks and containers of water for a weekend of camping among the drift logs. (Fresh water is not available here.)

Sea star and anenomes Hole in the Wall tidepool

In the early evening, the clouds lifted again, and we warmed up in the waning sun that cast a dusky evening glow.  

With sunset coming soon, we enjoyed a picnic dinner of crackers, salami, goat brie, tapenade, and fruit (hmmmm) at the beach and caught the last sunlight before returning to Sol Duc for the night.

Sunset over the Pacific at Rialto Beach

On our last full day, we found it easy to stay close to camp. The short trail near our campsite offered beautiful tall trees, mushrooms, and a view of the Sol Duc River. We finally had time to soak in the Sol Duc Resort hot springs pools late in the afternoon. This popular resort was crowded over the holiday weekend, but we found a seat and relaxed. Then, back to camp, dinner, and a campfire for our last night at Sol Duc. 

When You Go 

Here is a map of Olympic National Park that shows the places described in this post. Any time of year is a good time to explore the Olympic National Park lowlands and beaches, but be prepared for plenty of rain and storms from fall through spring. September is a great time to go before the weather turns in earnest. (Like now. This week. Weather is supposed to stay sunny and dry. Hop in your car and drive west!) Click here for campground information.