Canal Excursion

Last week we had the opportunity to join several friends at what is best described as adult summer camp out on Hood Canal, near Belfair. Not many observations from there, as it was no-phone time, but a couple of great finds. One was that with Belfair State Park at the very shallow and long end of the canal, the temp of the salt water was in the upper 60s (to my feel) near shore, and over 70 at the surface. For those of us used to the Puget Sound, that's warm indeed. It was also extremely salty, and very little grew in the water or on the shore. It occurred to me that such conditions were perfect for "sea beans", so when I dried off, I walked over to a patch of green, and voila, there they were! Found in iNat as "pickleweeds" and known as Salicornia. State park, so no foraging, but I hope to find a good, accessible patch someday a bit earlier in the season to take some home.

Heading out of Belfair, I saw a terrific Virginia Tiger Moth who stayed still and let me get nice and personal for a series of photos. We drove north along the canal, through Poulsbo and Kingston and all the way to Hansville where we visited the Foulweather Bluff Nature Preserve and Point No Point. Happy to see some of my favorite mollusk shells on the beach and to observe tiny berries blooming on the native blackberry. And some absolutely gorgeous Madrone. Osprey entertained us at PNP, joining in for the start of Salmon season, and I finally learned what those yellow beach "thistles" are.

Posted on July 16, 2023 10:52 PM by