What are some good wildlife-oriented hikes within a few hours of Seattle? for Questionland Seattle

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What are some good wildlife-oriented hikes within a few hours of Seattle?

my partner is a rooter. he grew up in the country near a swamp and, at the age of 30, has yet to abandon his affinity for rooting around outside.. to put it briefly, i'm wondering if people have any ideas/suggestions for hikes that may be sort of "critter-rich"..
we've been to rattlesnake ridge, deception point, and hiked a bit around leavenworth, but have yet to find much in the way of critters, ie. reptiles/amphibians.. we mean them no harm or disturbance; we just desire their company. thoughts? thanks!

louisa asked in Regional Trips 11 months ago | Report

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Nisqually Delta! They've removed the dikes that used to protect the old farm, so now the tidelands are rich with all manner of critters, and the birdwatching is fantastic.
http://www.fws.gov/Nisqually/

(And if he has a particular interest in amphibians, I recommend the North Fork of the Snoqualmie - I've seen tiger salamanders and Pacific Giant salamanders many times lurking under rocks in that river, and you can find many of our native frogs - the ones that haven't died from chytrid fungus - in the marshes nearby.)

Geni answered in Regional Trips 11 months ago | Report

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Cool! I'll have to check it out. You had me at 'Pacific Giant salamanders.'

rogitator commented 11 months ago | Report

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Oregon ensatinas, too. I've seen 'em on the trees around the river. They're so damn cute!

Geni commented 11 months ago | Report

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Ahh, I suggested the Middle Fork. How is the N. Fork - I've actually never been? The trail-head is somewhere near Mt. Fuller, no?

crabwine commented 11 months ago | Report

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It's a bit of a drive up the pot-holed forest service road - easily 30 min. at a cautious crawl - but this time of year the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie is absolutely teeming with trout. If you stay and camp for a weekend (there are some great sites) the odds of spotting a bald eagle, or even a great blue heron or two, are great! The trail-head is located a ways within the Snoqualmie wilderness area, so there's no shortage of deer - along with other "marsh-land" critters like turtles, newts and frogs.

The Middle Fork trail meanders with a lazy up and down grade for 20 miles or so along the valley, finally ending up at Goldmyer Hotsprings (the springs are privately owned, so 15 dollars and reservations are needed to get in.) On the way East, you can take the Dingford Creek trail over to Lake Hester and Lake Myrtle.

My one word of warning is that the area can get rather muddy - so plan your trip for a dry weekend :)

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/middle-fork-snoqualmie-upstream

crabwine answered in Regional Trips 11 months ago | Report

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This is a great question. You really should get yourself out to Olympic National Park. Depending on which ferry you take and which side of the park you go to "within a couple hours of Seattle" is in the eye of the beholder. But I'll tell you, especially on the Western edge where the rainforests are thick, there are more critters and life forms crammed into every square inch of land than probably any place else on this planet.

Everyone in Seattle owes it themselves to see the Olympic Rainforest at least once.

soundslikepuget answered in Regional Trips 11 months ago | Report

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Within "a few hours" of Seattle you can see pretty much every kind of critter there are! I'd say your critter-best-bet is Mt. Rainier, less than an hour and a half from here. There are loads of adorable marmots, lots of birds and butterflies and the occasional deer on the Spray Park hike, less so on the Tolmie Peak hike. I'm surprised you had no luck in Leavenworth. I've often seen deer, bears, lizards, snakes and the like. My best sighting was just two weekends ago: I was hiking/biking in Leavenworth and saw a new-born fawn, just an hour or so old, learning to walk next to its mother!

AKB answered in Regional Trips 11 months ago | Report

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For a somewhat different collection of wildlife, try this hike: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/umtanum-creek-canyon

Above the canyon it's all very much eastern Washington high desert, but the wind break and the water from the creek make the canyon itself a bit of an oasis. For one, I've never seen so many snakes in my life, both rattle and otherwise (don't worry, they're not aggressive), but also tons of raptors, varmits and hooved creatures like bighorn sheep. We even saw some elk once at the far end of the canyon, which is really unusual for that part of the state.

Prime critter spotting (especially of the reptilian variety) is early in the morning, so camping near there or staying in E-burg can help. There's a couple spots you can hike up the canyon walls if you want, but otherwise it's pretty much flat and, of course, it has that great eastern Washington sunny weather.

Jack answered in Regional Trips 11 months ago | Report

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