Birds – Parks & Lex

Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve

July 6, 2017January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Another one from the archives ~ two years ago this week, we made a drive-through visit of Everglades and Big Cypress en route from Miami to visit family in the Marco Island/Naples area on the gulf coast of Florida. While our visit was brief, it was, shall we say, one of our more memorable national park visits.

Being July in Florida, we were not keen to spend extended time outdoors, but we made a few stops as we drove across the state. It is not long before you start to catch glimpses of alligators in the waterways alongside the road ~ maybe you get used to that if you live in Florida, but pretty crazy in my opinion! We made sure to get an early start to catch a morning tram tour at the Shark Valley Visitor Center. While the trail can be walked or biked, the tram tour takes you a few miles in to an observation deck with greath views of the classic “prairie” landscape then loops back to the visitors center. This guided tour is a great way to cover some ground and get an interpretive view of the flora and fauna when you want to avoid the heat and alligators… or so we thought.

Our first alligator sighting at Shark Valley

In addition to the stop at the observation deck, the tram also stopped along the path to allow us to get a closer look at the periphyton that forms the ground cover in this ecosystem [a complex mixture of algae, bacteria, microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces ~ yes I had to just look that up]. Due to a late start to the rainy season, our guides suggested we could take a look at the canals that were dug in the area to form the elevated road. As our tour group gathered on the banks, we could see alligators 50-100 yards away in either direction. Suddenly, we heard a roar that sounded a bit like a freight train coming from behind us. As our group scattered in either direction, a 10-12 foot alligator came charging out of the bush snapping his jaws. I’m glad I was not in the back of the group closest to his original exit point, but even as we scattered, he couldn’t have been more than 4-5 feet away. Once there was a clear path to the water, the alligator went on his way, no longer feeling threatened. I was glad to have enough sense of self-preservation to wait until we were safe to try snapping photos. I think this was a bit of a closer call than the tour guides intended and definitely a reminder that even when utilizing he more developed features of the parks, you’re still in the wild. When we got back to the visitor center, we saw a few busloads of school-age children lined up for the next tour ~ pretty sure they didn’t get to make the same stop.

The look of people who just got charged by an alligator

After that excitement, we continued through the Everglades and into Big Cypress National Preserve. We didn’t get off the main road, but did stop at Kirby Storter Roadside Park to do a quick walk along the boardwalks to check out the trees and spot a few woodpeckers. Once we hit the other side of the preserve and state, we stopped at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center of Everglades NP. Some nice coastal views, but really only an outpost for some of the park concessionaires offering boat tours.

And thus ended our short – but memorable – visit to these FL parks! I can’t wait to tell little guy how mommy had to fight off an alligator at 6 months pregnant – only a slight exaggeration.

Olympic National Park

June 24, 2017January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

The past few days, various apps have been reminding me of our trip to Olympic National Park exactly 4 years ago. This 2-day whirlwind tour of the park was definitely full of highlights and in spite of the short time, may still be one of my favorite National Park visits. I will certainly want to return to this park sometime.

To start our tour, we took the ferry from Seattle and spent our first night in the delightful town of Sequim (pronounced “squim”) — in a B&B where all the rooms are refurbished train cabooses! After an excellent breakfast in the dining car, we checked out the lavender capital of the world before heading through Port Angeles and to our first stop in the park, Hurricane Ridge.

The winding road up to hurricane ridge brings you to one of the more dramatically placed visitor’s centers you will ever see. There are great views of the Olympic Mtn range and a number of hikes that start from the area. At the advice of a ranger, we took the Hurricane Hill trail to try to spot some Olympic marmots, which can only be found in this area. Even in late June, we had to crunch through some snow and experienced springlike weather on one side of the ridge, and foggy mist on the other. For a while, I was afraid we might just miss the marmots, but eventually, we found them! I admit, I was a little obsessed with the marmots.

After the hike we took a driving tour, stopping at Lake Crescent, the beach (because who doesn’t want to hike through snow and sand on the same day!), and ending up at the Lake Quinault Lodge. I think when we originally stayed there, I thought it fit my criteria for historic inns: “If it was good enough for Teddy, it’s good enough for us”, but I now find out it was President Franklin Roosevelt who had visited.

The next morning, we took a walk through the Quinault Rain Forest, which is partly in the National Park and partly National Forest. Whichever part we were in, we saw lots of banana slugs (though they are not as banana-y as the ones at home) and a pileated woodpecker along with plenty of other flora and fauna.

San Juan Island National Historic Park

June 18, 2017parksandlex@gmail.com

I realized I never posted Park #7 from 2016, a visit to San Juan Island National Historic Park on San Juan Island in WA last Sept. This was the final unique park I visited in 2016, but if I count repeat visits to Golden Gate National Recreation Area and NPS-affiliated sites (such as the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle where we saw a temporary Bruce Lee exhibit on this same trip), I think I could claim to have met my goal of 12 parks last year 🙂

After visiting some friends in the Seattle area and visiting the local volcanoes, we hopped a ferry to the San Juan Islands. The ferry rides alone provided awesome scenery, and we arrived in Friday Harbor on a picturesque day — and were greeted by a friendly harbor seal, who I suspect makes a regular appearance near the fish market.

The historic park commemorates a mid 19th century stand-off between British and American garrisons on the island involving the matter of a pig. The two sections of the park encompass the English Camp on the north end of the island, and the American Camp further South. We first stopped at the English Camp on a drizzly afternoon. We walked up the officer’s hill, checked out the recreated English garden, and watched some more adventurous hikers head off around the point.

We next drove down to American Camp, of course spotting a bald eagle along the way. Spent some time checking out a red fox foraging on the side of the road as well. Our little dude fell asleep in the car and it was still raining, so I popped into the visitor center to get my passport cancellations and watch the video about the incident of the pig. We decided to come back the next day to explore the rolling hillsides and reconstructed camp, a lovely walk with some great views.

I had read that nearby Salt Point State Park is a good place to spot orcas from shore, so we decided to head there before returning to American Camp. We noticed a few cars stopped at a pullout on our way into the park, and sure enough, there were several orcas active in the water, just offshore, close enough that we could hear the snorts and splashes as the surfaced! Don’t tell little guy, who slept through the whole thing.

After that, it was appropriately time to hop the ferry to Orcas Island, where we made a brief stop in Moran State Park, before heading back to the mainland. We had great views of Mt. Baker from the ferry.

This site had several passport stamps, including some bonus stamps which are cool except when you’re rapidly using up all the extra space in your passport book!

Wildlife Watching at Point Reyes National Seashore

January 18, 2015January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

January is an important time of year at Point Reyes. This month not only marks peak season for grey whale migration but also is prime elephant seal breeding time. Being able to observe these two events is a popular draw for visitors, and the park runs buses to ease vehicle traffic to the lighthouse and wildlife viewing areas. I had tried to make the pilgrimage last year, but unfortunately, the one day we picked to make the drive up from the South Bay/Peninsula, the bus broke down blocking access to the road. So there was a year’s worth of anticipation around seeing the whales this year!

The Point Reyes lighthouse, extending far west into the Pacific Ocean, is reportedly one of the best places on the West Coast to see the Grey Whales as they make their journey from Alaska to Mexico. The fact that the whales can be seen from land was a big selling point for my seasick-prone self after the Dramamine didn’t quite do the trick on a humpback whale-watching expedition in Monterey Bay. At the lighthouse, volunteers help to spot and count the whales (and have binoculars onhand if you didn’t bring your own). We saw at least 5 or 6 whales in the time we spent at the lighthouse, including lots of water spouts and a couple tails. While there is a viewing platform above from which you can see the whales, you can also climb the 300+ stairs down to the historic lighthouse to get a closer look. One of the unexpected highlights of our visit was getting to see peregrine falcons and red-tailed hawks dotting the cliff areas around the lighthouse. I had never seen a peregrine falcon before, and they are gorgeous birds! We spent a lot of time watching one chase away two red-tailed hawks invading his territory.

Just around the corner from the lighthouse, in Drakes Bay, dozens of elephant seals come to land to birth and breed, and their beach can be observed from a viewing area nearby. The same bus that goes to the lighthouse continues to the Chimney Rock Elephant Seal viewing area. Again, volunteers are available for help with viewing and as a great source of information. We saw a couple males with their “harems” and a lot of the little black babies, all born within the past week or two according to the volunteers.

pore17 — Nursing elephant seal. The babies’ dark fur helps them stay warm taking in sunlight until they put on some blubber.

All in all, it was quite a successful day of wildlife watching. In addition to the animals above, we also got to see some deer and elk and some not-so-wild cows on the ride in toward the lighthouse. The area is home to several historic ranches that are still functioning. We got to taste the results by stopping in to pick up some Cowgirl Creamery cheese at Tomales Bay Foods in Point Reyes Station on our way out.

This was the first time I’ve visited a site run by the National Park Service and forgot my passport book! I did stamp the cancellation and lighthouse stamp on a piece of scrap paper, and it turns out they are the same ones I picked up last year at the other visitor’s pore20 center in the park.