Mill Town Trail — Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023

Chilly early morning walk along the Milltown Trail on the Everett waterfront.  We parked at the beach/park parking lot just south of the big boat launch, (free 2 hr parking).  Our route was south along the water, climbing up to Grand Avenue Park on cool new pedestrian bridge, down Grand Ave to 25th and back along the Mill Town trail up to the boat launch with a few side excursions out onto the piers and up to the north and south Port Gardner view areas along W Marine View.  Mileage was just over 5.  The brand new restrooms at the big boat launch are now open and in great shape.  No specific trail issues though the wooden bits of the piers can be super slippery when frosty. 

Not an overwhelming amount of wildlife out today but there were some various ducks, gulls, cormorants, etc.  Super nice views of both Mt Baker to the north and Olympics to the west in the clear, blue sky this morning.  Interestingly, it was cold enough to start the brackish water in the marina to start freezing over - never seen that before!  Quite a bit of rail and naval traffic for a Sunday morning - several trains and a fair number of commercial vessels out.  Looks like Everett Ship Repair is working on the Cathlamet ferry (the one that bashed into the Fauntleroy dock a while ago) and the USAV Yaquina, a large modern dredge used by the Army Corp of Engineers to keep marine channels open.  A beautiful morning walk with lots to see.