Quick walk around the Discovery park loop and down to the beach, etc Sunday morning. We parked at the Hiram Chittenden locks and walked over using the super secret pedestrian bridge doing the loop clockwise for a total of about 6 miles and 500 gross vertical. The main parking lots in Discovery were busy but not full and the locks lot was also busy but not full. Restrooms at Discovery appeared to be all closed for the season while those at the locks were open and in good condition. The north and south beach trails were muddy where they normally are half way down the bluff and several bits of the original stairs on the north beach trail really are showing their age with busted stairs and railings.
Quite a bit of wildlife out this morning - raccoon, lots of heron, eagle, raven, you can even hear all the sealions barking on the Shilshole breakwaters throughout most of the park. The tide was high so not much beach walking available. A fair bit of maritime traffic out including a really neat US Coast Guard helicopter and boat training together out in the water, super nice to see those folks out. Lastly, if you make it over to the locks don’t miss the work the Army Corp of Engineers is doing to replace the middle gate in the large lock - super interesting. A really nice morning. #lovelocaltrails
Comments
BlueGoat on Discovery Park Loop Trail, Discovery Park Beach and Highlands Loop
Wow--that heron let you get really close--or did you need to zoom in? Great that you saw so much fauna--I did the Loop a few weeks ago and didn't see a thing.
Posted by:
BlueGoat on Feb 05, 2024 09:50 AM
wafflesnfalafel on Discovery Park Loop Trail, Discovery Park Beach and Highlands Loop
yep, surprisingly tame. It was just 20 or so feet from the walkway with all sorts of folks walking by. But agree, most heron I've seen are really pretty skittish. The other thing I noticed over there recently is a large and seemingly growing herd (murder?) of crows that seem to scare off many other birds.
Posted by:
wafflesnfalafel on Feb 05, 2024 12:34 PM