Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
Sep 11, 2004
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Dungeness Spit
- Region: Olympics -- North
- Agency: Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
- Avg Rating: 2.71
Start:1030 Lighthouse: 1245 Finish: 1600
A fine amble along the spit. I arrived a little later than I had anticipated due to sleeping in. Paid the $3 to the ranger and off I went. By and large the vast majority of people stayed in the first 1/2 mile of the spit. Once past that, I pretty much had it to myself.
Lots of good beach hiking as the tide was still pretty low on the outbound leg. Lots and lots of Sanderlings deedeleebopping on the waters edge. Plenty of Sea Chickens (Gulls) and I was surprised to see Caspian Terns out there as well. I was constantly paralleled by Harbor Seals from about the halfway point to the lighthouse. Unfortunately, there was a dead baby seal near the lighthouse. The ranger came out and did a report on it and when high tide came, the sea took the body back out. A few yellow flowers as well and lots of crabs!
At the lighthouse I got an excellent tour from a volunteer who lives out there for a week and is then rotated. Got the whole history of the area and he was a real pleasant fellow. They're refinishing the floor of the main house and maintaining the rest of the buildings. I was surprised to see that they had an artesian well that pumped a constant 40 gallons/hour an tasted excellent. Had lunch at the lighthouse and enjoyed the weather. While it was cloudy, it was nice and cool with only moderate wind.
Heading back, the tide started to rise quickly and got caught by a couple of big waves coming up the beach to the shingle. The waves were really dramatic at the angle of the spit and boomed impressively. Lots of widowmaker logs coming in to the beach. Saw a lot of grommets and gulls hitting the water in one place and figured there was a herring ball present but couldn't really tell. Obviously something good for the birds.
Found that walking on an angle along the spit causes stress on your left outgoing and right incoming. Just was interesting to see how it affected the feet. And walking on the shingle can always be a little tricky, but overall was no problem thanks to the trusty hiking stick.
Went to the mandatory post spit dinner at the ""3 Crabs"" and had an excellent feed, followed by the drive and ferry back. Glad I didn't believe the weatherman!
DuckDuckGoose
-------------- Why are people always trying to stop themselves from doing what they really want to do?
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