Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge

In no particular order I will be adding several posts from my recent house sitting/cat sitting/parent visiting trip to WA. Staying in Port Ludlow gave me a lot of opportunities to explore the amazing trails within close reach. Larina and Bob left me a bike, kayak and paddleboard to use but I was so busy hiking that I never got around to even taking them out of the garage!

One of the hikes I went on was the 11 mile hike from the Dungeness Recreation area out along the Dungeness Spit on the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the New Dungeness Light Station National Historic Site. Of course, arriving early I found the restrooms locked at the parking lot so I had to hike another 1/2 mile through the campsite to find an operable bathroom. Always annoying to have a rather long hike further extended before you even get started!

It was a beautiful sunny day and along the way there were tons of shorebirds as well as juvenile and adult bald eagles. Not a lot of people on the way out to the lighthouse as I left pretty early but quite a few enjoying the beautiful weather as I headed back.

View about a mile down the spit looking back towards the Olympics.
Collision course?
Hard to see but in the middle of the picture (sort of against the hillside) you can see one of the bald eagles flying along the shore.
Evolution? A walking starfish?
Interesting program where you can be a lighthouse keeper for a week. Apparently the program books up at least a year in advance. You are assigned “light duties” during the week, do tours for the visitors and open and close the museum daily. The “keepers” are driven our to the lighthouse on low tide – those were the only cars allowed on the beach.

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