This hike is suitable for everyone.  It is flat, paved, gravel or boardwalk.  Those who use wheelchairs can access the entire length of the trail.  It has both freshwater and salt water marshes and their denizens.  This was a partly cloudy 75 degree day with a cool breeze in the open areas.  Best to wear short sleeves with a long sleeved shirt.  No need for hiking boots and poles, just sturdy comfortable footwear.  It is a walk for eyes and ears as well as feet.  The Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge has tide tables on its website.  High tide brings more water birds and low tide brings more shore birds.  Bald eagles and wood ducks nest here and seals visit.  Herons and cormorants both fish here.  A family of cliff swallows sat on branches next to the boardwalk where the adults fed the almost adult young.  Being a wetland, there were mosquitoes but if you kept moving, they were not a problem.  America the Beautiful pass gives you free entry otherwise there is a $3 daily fee.  Red raspberries are starting to ripen

I always wanted to check this place out and I'm glad I did! Very pretty and clean trail. Easy one too!! Most of it is on a boardwalk except for the way to the Puget Sound Lookout, there's some gravel. I'm very glad I read on this site about the Puget Sound Lookout because unless you read their map you wouldn't know it was there! There's signs for the loops and some of the lookouts but not for that one. I loved that part!! I saw seals and lots of birds. Binoculars are very helpful and fun to have!! Our mountain wasn't too bright, maybe because of the time of day. This hike would be fun for kids as long as the parents remind them to use quiet voices to enjoy the sounds of birds and anything else that appears.

This was my first time going here and I thought that it was awesome. It seemed like it was accessible for those who might not be able to do inclines or many stairs. The loop that me and my friend Imari did was flat and we went out on the boardwalk? Not exactly sure what it is called but it is wooden and goes out over the water for miles. This is a great place to bird watch so make sure to bring binoculars and a camera with zoom capabilities. We saw so many kinds of birds (hawks, herons, guls, finches). The tide was out so the water below was shallow and we saw some spotted seals swimming. It was magical. I think that this would be a great place to bring older folks and kids. I think total we did about 3.5 miles.

Took a WTB group on a day hike to explore the boardwalk.  It had been years since I visited the Nisqually Refuge...probably late 90s sometime.  I remember it only being a gravel parking lot with a pay station box for a day use fee and a 5-mile dike path to explore the perimeter of the refuge. 

Now it has been improved to have a paved parking lot, extensive visitors center and wooden boardwalks extending to the end of the refuge.  No longer the 5-mile dike to explore, but the boardwalks were excellent for all types of foot traffic.  Young and old, able-bodied and physically challenged could all make this an enjoyable day trip.  No jogging allowed on the boardwalk, but who wants to jog when you can run...just kidding. Bathrooms are clean and available at the visitor center, while port-a-potty units were near the Brown Farm barns.

Depending on what you want to see, look up the tide schedule to determine when you want to head out...high or low tide. Both show a different perspective of the refuge.  Check out a pair of binoculars at the visitor center by leaving your I.D. and you are bound to witness a ton of wildlife. We saw Common Muskrat, Eastern Gray Squirrel-Non Native, Northwestern Garter Snakes (blue underbelly & yellow underbelly) Bald Eagles (one that flew 20-feet right over the trail), Great Blue Herons (20 spotted in a group at the end of the boardwalk), Mallard ducks (mated pair), Bullfrogs and numerous unknown finches.

I highly recommend everyone visit this beautiful refuge.