Tag Archives: trails

Carkeek Park Adventures, Part 1

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A weekend adventure outside the concrete jungle life..

This time at Carkeek Park, a small 220 acre woodland to the north of the Ballard district of Seattle. The area has much greatness hidden through its joggable trails; wetlands, orchards, grass picnic areas, and a beach with so much more. But for me it had a lot of peace and quiet, which I needed for much of this weekend.

I also took pictures (below)

I stayed on mostly two trails, The Piper Trail to my destination, and the South Ridge on my return trip. Most of these trails are easy and friendly for the casual hiker or jogger. The signs aren’t always at all the fork splits, so it might be good to have a printed map. This is not so much for getting lost, but to make sure you reach the right destination point, or to leave where you walked in (I took the bus here).

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Soon on the Piper Trail, the Piper Orchard. A series of fruit and nut trees planted over 100 years ago by the Piper Family. There are bags tied around the fruits, with signs kindly asking people not to take.

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Lots of moss here in the late summer. I love seeing moss on trees.

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A creek where salmon are known to travel, in the past at least. The running water keeps me calm.

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My favorite thing about woodland hikes, the odd tree formations and collapses. One could just let their imaginations run wild with this.

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I also love to see some crazy root action when on the upper trails. This was on the South Ridge trail after an upward crawl.

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Half a tree..

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I wanted to capture some pics of birds here. I can hear them all about up high. But here I think, the birds are shy and keep their distance from the constant humans passing through. I can hear many, see nothing. But, I enjoyed what I had anyway..

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A variety of life, and some death.

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Still no birds, and not much in sects either. But I had plenty for the imagination..

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Not a medium park trail unless someone leaves a visible message somewhere..

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The end, or beginning of things. This was my destination and rest area, the beach area of Carkeek Park. I am immediately reminded from the sky of the wildfires throughout the Pacific Northwest, causing this hazy sky. More on that, as I will post pics and notes of that in Part 2, coming soon.

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  – Orion T

Vashon Island Adventure, on Fisher Pond Trail 

Vashon Island is a magnificent escape for anyone wanting a good step outside from that busy work week.

You can visit the island, southwest of Seattle. The trip is easy and cheap by ferryboat from the nearby lands. For nature lovers, this is a paradise of many options and places to go. Not all could be covered in a short visit here. I chose the Fisher Pond, a mile west of the small town of Vashon within the center of the island. I spent much time in town (which will be covered in another post), and had only a few hours until the last bus to the duck would go back.So with local advice, I went there for a few hours.

So, here are some pictures taken, mostly from the Fisher Pond Trail surrounding the pond…

 

On the way to to the pond trail on Bank Road. The walk was about two miles, very peaceful with views like this between the houses..

 

The trail itself, pretty short compared to the time it took to get here. Most do the time spent here was in being still taking pictures and reading short stories. 

 

Just a cool shot of some leaves. I trying for a small bird just beyond the leaves, but was a little late.

There were many of dragonflies fluttering about. This I think (based on a Google search) is a blue damselfly.

One of may birds you can hear chirping about on the trail. I wish I was good at taking pictures of birds, as they are hard to locate. Also, I also wish I could identify them better. Maybe on my next library visit, I will look more into this..

Another small red bird, enjoying a little sunshine..

Another bue damselfly, I believe

 

Fisher Pond itself, covered with leaves and pollen…I think.

A little caterpillar, crawling around.  I took this picture with my iPad mini, after failing to get these awesome details with my Canon Rebel T3i. I stayed next to me for quite some time on a bench overlooking the pond. I felt a had a little friend for that time..

Another blue damselfly, I believe. These things fluttered in small groups by the pond.

 

An odd arrangement, one of many noticeable’ along side the outer area of the trail. Some were much longer, some bent. This one was shorter, but sweet in its presentation. I was unsure if these are natural in design, or some man-made manipulation. But either way, I think is pretty cool.

An old chair in the distance, by Bank Road. I wonder when the last time someone sat upon that chair. Now, I think it’s work is done and has been left here to retire..

Another countryside view, on my way back to the small town of Vashon.

– Orion T