Hike on a snaking dike built by tenacious twentieth-century settlers and farmers through the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Established in 1980 to protect extensive mudflats of eel grass, the 11,000-acre preserve is a bird watcher's paradise. The trail twists and turns along sloughs, tidal flats, and salt marshes, allowing you to scope out herons, eagles, falcons, dunlins, brants, and scores of other winged residents. And in addition to the profuse birdlife, you'll be treated to unhindered views of surrounding mountains, islands, and farmland from this delightful and level path.

Begin by walking back down Second Street and then Bay View-Edison Road for 0.15 mile to the Padilla Bay shore trailhead. Roads are lightly traveled, but keep children and dogs close by. The short drop in elevation from parking lot to trailhead is the only elevation change you'll experience on this hike. Relax and enjoy this perfectly level trail for the next 2.25 miles.

Developed in 1990 by a consortium of public agencies, the Padilla Bay Shore Trail allows the best pedestrian viewings of the estuarine reserve. Established for research, education, and stewardship, Padilla is one of only twenty-seven such reserves in the country. Padilla harbors some of the best remaining eelgrass flats north of Willapa Bay, but the area has been heavily influenced by agriculture and industry. Farmers have reclaimed thousands of acres of tideflats for cropland, and a large oil refinery sits across the bay at March Point.

But the area still remains ecologically viable and incredibly scenic, especially during low tide, when nearly the entire 8-by-3-mile bay is transformed into glistening mudflats and slithering sloughs. Hordes of herons harvesting succulent appetizers can often be observed. Be sure to cast your attention to the neighboring "drier"grounds for songbird and raptor sightings.

If bird-watching doesn't ruffle your feathers, the surrounding scenery should still tickle your fancy. Islands dot the bay, with Lummi and the San Juans guarding its northern waters. Across Padilla, the conifer-cloaked knolls of Sugarloaf and Mount Erie crown Fildalgo Island. Mount Baker rises above the countryside to the east, and to the south Mount Rainier hovers in the distance over the Skagit Flats.

In 1.8 miles you'll approach a lone cedar and a slough-side barn, a favorite among photographers casual and serious alike. The trail then turns away from the mudflats, following a snaking Indian Slough for a final 0.5 mile and terminating at its southern trailhead. From this alternative starting area (where parking is limited), begin your return, enjoying a new phase of the bay.