Dungeness Recreation Area is a great place to walk and now that hunting has been discontinued there it’s even more welcoming. This new bench was installed recently and trails have been better groomed.
Tag: Dungeness Recreation Area
All that green!
A bright, sunny day. A walk in the Dungeness Recreation Area. Trees and shrubs turning bright green with fresh, new leaves. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Family portrait
This doe and two fawns stopped and posed last summer.
There’s good cover and plenty of forage in the Dungeness Recreation Area, but the deer still generally prefer back and front yard plantings in the nearby neighborhood, even when the plants are natives that grow wild nearby. Still, they make better neighbors than some I’ve had.
The Sunlight Event
Here’s another image of the Dungeness Recreation Area that I took during our Sunlight Event last Thursday. I managed two post-worthy shots before the sun returned to winter pallor. I shouldn’t complain. Our weather’s been mild compared to much of the world and for that I’m grateful.
My husband has taken to pointing out all the budding branches he can find and regularly observes new signs of spring. That’s welcome optimism.
Silly, really
It’s become an event when we have a smattering of that weak, golden winter sunshine. Thursday progressed with rain, a shot of sun, more rain, drizzle, and then sun, piercing the grey, to end the day. Sun like that pulls me out the door, camera in hand, ever hopeful. “Look at that! Sunshine!” It’s silly, really.
Linking to:
The new trail
A few months ago I posted photos of the bluff trail at Dungeness Recreation Area here under the title “There goes the neighborhood” because it was, quite literally, sliding into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It’s an ongoing challenge to keep access to the bluff trails open because the sandy cliffs are so battered by natural erosion. This is a view of the newly-revised trail at the bluff after it was recently shifted further inland. Although it looks – and is – tidy and clear, this shift required removing at least four or five feet of thick shrubbery that previously edged the trail to allow it to tiptoe back from the ever-creeping ledge. The fence you see in this view is not so far from the previous inland side of the trail.
This view shows some of the erosion that has eaten into what once was the trail.
Trail crews did a beautiful job on this and other parts of the bluff trail. I wish I could applaud and say “Your work is finished!” But I think it’s just another chapter in an ongoing saga. They’ll be back.
Bitter cherry
The native bitter cherry (prunus emarginata) is one of the first trees to turn gold in this area, starting as early as August and paving trails in the Dungeness Recreation Area yellow. It’s especially colorful when its tiny cherries ripen to a bright red. It would be a very long stretch to make a pie from the fruit but it is a good food source for birds and small mammals.