I’m not sure how I’ve lived in the area my whole life and didn’t know this was here. Went at 10am on a Monday and it was moderately busy with parking lot half way full. Beautiful sites, wildlife was out and boardwalk in good condition. 

We walked the boardwalk loop from the Norm Dicks Visitor Center. It was warm and beautiful. The boardwalk is in great condition. It was busy but not crowded. We'll definitely be back for more extensive exploration.

Very neat little trail full of boardwalk walks. Make sure you don’t miss the Estuary Trail and boardwalk over by the old barns. We saw an Eagle, a group of seals Sun bathing and swimming, large frogs, herons, and a mother doe with her fawn! Plus many more types of beautiful birds and bird songs.

I headed out to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in search of herons in honor of my Dad (who passed away when I was 20) this Father's Day.  The trail and boardwalk are in good shape, as usual, and there are a bunch of flowers blooming on the blackberry (raspberry?) bushes, we well as along the paths. There were also a ton of snakes on the path between the grasslands and the boardwalk! I counted 6 snakes on the way in and 8 on the way out.  

I was thrilled to see a little flock of bright yellow American Goldfinches!  Unfortunately I missed high tide and the it was out far enough that there weren't many birds on the delta aside from gulls and cormorants. I finally spotted six herons hunting on the other side of the river and while I couldn't get close enough to get any pics, but it was a nice sign :)  

As as side note, I walked the William Ives trail (not listed in WTA, but it's only 1.5 miles and is owned by Lacey Parks and Rec) yesterday from Meridian Campus Park. If you are in the Hawks Prairie area and need a little leg stretcher, this is a great option! It runs in between the Hawks Prairie Golf Course and a neighborhood - it's a beautiful little path.