Welts-Samish Restoration Site — Friday, Jan. 1, 2016

Puget Sound and Islands > Bellingham Area

The WTA drop-down menu is really showing its limitations in the winter. I've always been cranky that there is no "wildlife on hike" dropdown, because then we hikers could let people know when the raptors are migrating and the butterflies are out in the mountains or Eastern Washington. And "snow free" is great if you're looking for a hiking trail, but not a ski or snowshoe trail. I had to use "minor obstacles" for this hike to warn not of logs, but half-frozen, slick, shoe-sucking mud. There is a track out of the lot to the shoreline (head straight for the shore) that looks more dry, but I was aiming for a New Years Day owl sighting for good luck, so I headed down the hunter track. This area is a nice, quiet walk after the hunters get done for the day. There are wildlife watchers, but they spread out so it's never felt crowded. For those of us resting between ski/snowshoe trips or recovering from injury/surgery (been there, done that), it's a nice place to stretch the legs and see wildlife. I saw a couple training a huge dog (looked like a Rottie with a giant maw), and another couple walking a small child who threw rocks in the ditch as a heron watched. A few photographers wandered out for the owls. The flats are still pretty flooded, and with the cold weather, frozen at the surface. The muddy track that appears out of the water calls for changing into mucky boots and a rubber mat to put them back in the car. I was cursing modern shoelaces that like to unravel into the muck (thought this was just me having flunked elementary shoe-tying until a holiday party where shoelace angst broke out). As a result, I recommend lacing double and super tight to avoid relacing and sliming up hands. The mud and muffled cursing didn't prevent the short-eared owls from making an appearance at 4 p.m. I was too lazy to pull out the tripod, so my pictures are fuzzy and I'll have to go back tomorrow when the sun is out again. A northern harrier was posing- or picking rodent fuzz out of its talons- on a stump nearby. Mt. Baker rose lovely and wild above the flats, but snow highlighted the patchwork clearcuts on the ridge in the foreground.