Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk and Twin Barns Loop

Good morning, my friends. We've made good use of our time here in Olympia, Washington, and we'll be moving on to our next stop in Forks today. We'll have four days in Forks, and we have a lot of sight-seeing on the agenda. If the forecast is to be believed, we should have good weather while we're there.

Backing up to yesterday, we checked off the first item on our sight-seeing list with our walk on the Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk and Twin Barns Loop. Both hikes can be found at the Billy Frank, Jr., Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

And you know how I am, my friends. Right away I needed to know who this Billy Frank, Jr., character is. This is his picture from Wikipedia:

(Attribution: By Ecotrust - Billy Frank Jr., CC BY 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55827198)

Also from Wikipedia: 

He lived from March 9, 1931 – May 5, 2014. As a member of the Nisqually tribe, Frank led a grassroots campaign in the 1960s and 1970s to secure fishing rights on the Nisqually River. His efforts centered around promoting cooperative management of natural resources. Frank served as the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for over thirty years.

During the Fish Wars, Frank organized a series of "fish-ins." These events culminated in the Boldt Decision, which affirmed that Washington state tribes were entitled to fifty percent of the annual fish harvest.

In recognition of his contributions, Frank was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in November 2015. The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge was renamed in his honor in December 2015. Billy Frank Jr. continues to be considered a bridge between Western and Native American societies in regards to environmental sustainability.

Cool. Okay, so let's talk about our walk, shall we? This large structure is the visitor center. Sadly, the visitor center was closed yesterday, so no refrigerator magnet nor any shot glass for me. And, honestly, what's even the point of going now? I guess the pictures will have to do.

And if you, like me, are uncertain of what an estuary actually is, not to worry. I stood there in the parking lot and looked it up. Have I said lately how much I 💕the internet?

Also, I was reminded of the advice we were given when we walked a boardwalk across an estuary in Homer, Alaska, last summer.

The trails started off to the left of the structure.

If you have your woofie with you, they'll have to wait in the car. Also, I was strapping on my running shoes when...bummer. No jogging. (As if.) And no bikes, which, in my case, is a safety precaution.

We started out under a canopy of trees.

Eventually, we came to a clearing, where we could see the Nisqually River. Here, we're looking back and the back side of the visitor center.

This area was filled with green muck like I haven't seen anywhere else except in the swamps around New Orleans.

The ducks liked it.

They swam around with their beaks dipped in and slurped it up as they paddled along.

We also spotted this heron there.

Walking on, I spied these blackberries along the trail. In Oregon, we call these "Oregon blackberries." I wonder if they're also called Oregon blackberries in Washington.

Here, we came to a fork in the trail. One way led to the Nisqually River overlook, and that's the direction we went. There's the river.

Here's the nearby informational sign.

We also learned something about the Nisqually tribe, the "People of the River."

This image accompanied the text on the sign.

From there, we walked across some dikes.

They were built by a farmer. Farther down the trail, we saw this sign. I've cropped the text below to make it easier to read.

We walked for some distance before connecting up with the boardwalk again. I've marked with an arrow where it ends.

No swimming, my friends.

There was a shelter and resting spot where we were standing. Inside was this information about the gulls.

I believe this next guy is of the Glaucous-Winged gull.

What we mostly saw were these Ring-billed gulls. You can easily spot the black ring on their beaks.

Also...lots of these funny little guys. They were identified on a sign as "Greater Yellowlegs."

Mike's back was bothering him a little bit, and so he waited at the shelter while I walked on.

As I walked along, I read this sign explaining what I was seeing.

These were the only blooming things I could see.

As I approached the shelter at the end, I spotted another heron.

And here we are...end of the line. Everybody still with me? Any stragglers?

Inside, this sign explained what I was looking at. Note the red arrow at the bottom indicating where we're standing.

Looking to the left, I could see this. Howdja like to live out there?

Looking to the right, it looked like this.

Looking straight ahead, it looked like this. One assumes that's Anderson Island out there.

Okay, and this is an out-and-back hike, so we're turning around now...heading back to where Mike is...assuming he didn't leave without us.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted some animal activity. Initially, I was excited thinking I might see some river otters. No...these are sea lions.

Scanning the area, I spotted at least a dozen more.

Also, I spotted another heron.

And another.

And more of these rather comical greater yellowlegs. They run really fast.

This was a larger bird...hard to say for sure what it is. I have an idea its a juvenile gull of some kind.

And I don't know what these little buys were. They were the size of a songbird, but they moved like the greater yellowlegs. Lesser yellow legs, perhaps? Actually, yes. I just now retrieved that answer by inquiring of The Google.

We took a little detour from our previous route to see the Twin Barns of the Twin Barns Loop.

And then made our way back to the parking lot, spotting this heron one more time.

Our drive back to the RV takes us past this field of giant sunflowers.

And this structure.

Back at the RV, I got Smitty out for a sampling of this Pawshington grass. Grass is legal in Pawshington so no worries about ending up in the pawnitentiary.

Our walk lasted approximately five minutes, and then we dispensed treats of valor and treats of appeasement.

From there, we had lunch, and we took naps. We'd arranged to meet up with our friends Andy and Karie for dinner again last night. We met a little early, and Andy took us down to a harbor area where we thought we might see salmon running. We didn't see any salmon, but we saw plenty of harbor seals lying in wait. Also, this heron, who was plucking little minnows out of the water about every ten seconds.

We had another nice dinner with our friends, said our good-byes, and then headed for our home on wheels. We have until 11:00 a.m. to check out here. Check-in at the next place isn't until 1:00. It'll be a somewhat short day of driving, and so we can spend a leisurely morning here in Olympia before heading down the dusty trail.

All right then. That's all I have for you this morning. I'm finishing up early enough that I can do some slow-stitching...or play some word games...or go back to bed...or something. I hope you've enjoyed our time in Olympia as much as we've enjoyed being here. There's plenty more to see and lots of hiking down the road. We're only just getting started.