After reading the recent article in The Seattle Times about this hike - and having recently taken a Mountaineers moss class, I decided to check out Oxbow Lake Loop on this fine early spring day.
I hadn't driven up along this road in over 15 years. There was a decent amount of traffic at 09:45 on a Sunday morning. After passing the already-full Mailbox parking lot, I arrived at the main Oxbow Lake TH to find a few parking spots still open (though, by the end of my hike, the TH was completely full and cars were waiting to park).
Taking my time, I hiked slowly and looked at the mosses, the trees, the birds, the plants. There was a decent amount of bird activity today: several Pacific wrens, American robins, a couple Steller's jay, chickadees, a brown creeper, a red breasted sapsucker, and on the lake: a pair of hooded mergansers (the male in gorgeous breeding plumage), a pair of ring-necked ducks, and 4 Canada geese that came flying in. A pretty good birding day.
The variety and amount of mosses and lichens on the huge old Big Leaf Maples and Sitka Spruce trees was wonderful to see today. This trail is elfin paradise...and to think a "rainforest-like" trail is just 45 minutes from Seattle!
Bonus for me: I saw my first trillium of the season today! There were 3 of them along the loop trail. It's a great sign of the season when the trillium start popping and showing off in the sun! There were also a couple patches of pioneer violets bursting out in their lovely buttery yellow.
Throughout the day, there were quite a few people on the trail. Thankfully, the groups were spaced out enough that I had plenty of moments of solitude to listen to the birdsong.
A great hike for getting back into hiking (for me) after a long winter and for exploring nature.
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