Grizzly Island

Yesterday my dad and I took a trip up north to visit the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area. This place is the largest estuarine marsh in the United States. It’s huge - 8600 acres! An estuary is where fresh water meets saltwater, and at Grizzly Island we saw an incredible abundance of ponds, lakes, creeks, and streams spread out all over the place. After we actually drove into the entrance of the refuge, we followed a looooong road that twisted and turned through the marsh. It took us a good 30-45 minutes on that road before we got to the place where we had to pay and register. Whew.

One of the unique things about Grizzly Island is the wildlife. Tule elk make their home in the marsh along with river otters, hawks, golden eagles, bald eagles, owls, rabbits, and numerous other animals. When the explorer Sir Francis Drake first saw the elk in this area in the 1500s, he described them as “big fat deer.” Haha!

Although Dad and I picked a far out trail where elk have been spotted from, we didn’t see any yesterday. For the past few weeks the place has been closed due to an annual elk hunt. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. *suspicious look* We DID see lots of elk tracks along a dry riverbed we hiked beside, and we happened upon a shotgun shell in our path as well. Hmm. In some parts, the tule reeds looked like they had been trampled by elk. We were so close to seeing the elusive animals, and yet so far.

Here are some more pics:

“Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” Nehemiah 9:6