When the last dish is dried and put away, Herb and I take the dinghy to shore, anticipating a walk on one of the trails. Herb loops the painter around a firmly planted rock and we ‘find Willie’s Tug.’
Find Jake’s Ferry….at the other end of the painter.
First stop is the Interpretive Panel where we read about the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which manages natural areas to protect native ecosystems, plants and animals; and to conserve outstanding examples of natural Washington. Among other things, the Department manages 5.6 million acres of aquatic lands as a public trust for all the people of Washington, and state trust lands that provide revenue to the state’s public schools, local governments and other beneficiaries.
The map on one of the panels shows Eagle Harbor at the top and the trails available to walk. We choose the short one to the right, as we definitely want to be back to the boat by lunchtime.
Wow! It sure looks like strawberry vines growing along the ground, and reminds me of when my mother planted some in our garden when I was a child. Yep, it is! These berries look to be ripe already, but we leave them to the wildlife. We had seen on one of the panels that in 1792 Captain George Vancouver’s expedition landed men at Strawberry Bay, naming it for the abundant fruit there. It is thought that they named the island “Cypress” after finding Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), a member of the Cypress plant family. I think my cousin Jay could relate to this.
Our walk to the right takes us .3 miles to the north to a beach where Herb 'Finds Willie's Tug' appearing to be a small speck. Enjoying a bit of beach combing, I find a small shell that looks like a hen sitting on her nest of eggs. (Yeah, we also raised chickens when I was a child.) No photo of it, but I do get one of a clamshell that has been filled with pebbles during high tide.
The trail is so lovely with its foliage, narrowing in some places and dipping into a few ditches, which the springs have carved.
A signpost marker at a crossroads points the 1.8 mile way to Pelican Beach, but we don’t want to go that direction, as it is already past noon and food awaits us. We can start earlier on another day. The post in the background shows how to get back to Eagle Harbor.
Once back in the dinghy, we cruise over to where the crab trap is, hoping we have caught lunch. We find one crab, but being too small, he falls out of the trap into the boat – right near y shoes!
Herb! Get that critter away from MY toes!
Herb picks him up and returns him to the sea to grow up a little more.
Lunch is definitely not crab salad.
Willie of Willie's Tug,
and of Walldog, Willie and Jake
Thursday, July 20, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment