Tag Archives: Dungeness Spit and Lighthouse

Dungeness National Refuge

D is for the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and the Dungeness Spit located on the North Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington.

A trail wanders through the trees and eventually drops down to the Dungeness Spit.

The Dungeness Spit has the Strait of Juan de Fuca on it’s outer shore and the Dungeness Bay on it’s inner shore. Canada is directly across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the North of Washington State.

It’s a 6 mile trek to walk out to the Dungeness Light Station, first lighted in 1857. We didn’t have enough time on the day we visited to do the round trip to the light house and back.

It wasn’t an easy walk because of all the rocks washed up on the spit.

The trail begins at the top of those trees in the distance. We walked out for about an hour and then headed back to the trail head.

There were lots of nice camping spots above the Spit and Wildlife refuge.

These last two photos that show the Dungeness Light house were taken in 2011 during the same time of year. On that trip to Sequim for the lavender festival we saw these eagles nesting, too.

Dungeness CrabSource

      The Dungeness Crab gets its common name from the town of Dungeness, Washington, now called Old Town Dungeness, where the first commercial harvesting of the crab was done. The Dungeness Crab is the only commercially important crab in the state of Washington’s territorial waters and was the first shellfish harvested commercially on the North Pacific Coast.

Linking up to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on with the expertise of Roger and team!

N is for Nests and Nature~

It’s time for the letter N with Jenny at Alphabe-Thursday! Thank you Jenny for hosting!

This past weekend I had a bloggy guest spend a few days and we were out and about in the Great Northwest. On the way and during a trip to the Sequim Lavender Farm Faire we were given the opportunity to photograph something neither of us had ever seen before, a baby Seagull. My daughter Katie spotted it off the car deck of the ferry. Later in the morning above the Dungeness Spit on Marine Drive Jill spotted an eagle. Eagle photographs have eluded me until now and then a local stopped while we were photographing the Eagle to tell us about a spot where we could see 2 young eagles still in their nest. Let’s just say that it was a glorious start to a glorious day of enjoying God’s creation and making note of that creation with our cameras.

Here’s the baby seagull that Katie spotted from the ferry dock. Mama seagull was standing over it keeping an eye on us while we clicked away.

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

© Alfred Tennyson

Nests – The shape of the eagle nest or aerie is determined mainly by the branch point where it’s built. Sticks placed in tree forks result in cylindrical or conical shaped nests. Disk Shaped nests are built on the ground or a tree branch which is nearly level. Bowl Shaped Nests occur where the tree trunk branches off into smaller upright branches.
   Bald eagles build their nests in large trees near rivers or coasts. A typical nest is around 5 feet in diameter. Eagles often use the same nest year after year.

We assumed this is one of the parents of the eaglets since it was perched just above the nest.

Beyond the Dungeness Spit is the Strait of Juan De Fuca which separates this part of the Olympic Peninsula from Vancouver Island, B.C.

The Dungeness Lighthouse. Built in 1857. Manned and maintained by US Lighthouse Society, New Dungeness Chapter. Six mile walk to the lighthouse. Open year round.

This is also the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

We saw other animals, too. Besides needing some serious orthodontia work, aren’t they cute? We stayed far enough away so they couldn’t spit on us.

Another first for me on this day was being able to photograph this peacock with it’s feathers fanned. Too bad he was behind the wired fence.

Hope you enjoyed my nature shots. I’ll be around soon to see what other N’s will be represented this week.

Packed Into Three Days…

Mosaics today with more details to follow during the week.

Jill arrived at SeaTac Airport on Thursday morning and we headed straight to Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill has a wonderful view of Seattle and if you continue down Highland you’ll find this sweet little park.

On Friday morning, bright and early, we headed out to catch the Edmonds/Kitsap Ferry which took us across the Puget Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula. We traveled a few miles to the Hood Canal Bridge which took us to the Olympic Peninsula and then to our destination of Sequim.

We were blessed with more than beautiful views of lavender in Sequim.

Full grown eagles and a couple young eagles still in their nest were a wonderful surprise for us to view. The Dungeness Spit and Lighthouse are the background for this mosaic with the eagles who were nesting above this area. At 5.5 miles in length, the Dungeness Spit is the world’s longest naturally occurring sandspit and home to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. Dungeness Crab comes from this area.

I have many photos to share from our lavender tour and eagles which I’ll share later during the week.

I’m linking my Mosaics over at Mary’s Little Red House.

Hope to visit you soon…