Olympic Peninsula: Sequim Spit and Salmon Spawning

On a beautiful, sunny Monday, we were going to backtrack. Sequim is a town between Port Townsand and Port Angeles. It is probably best known for its fields of lavender. However, we had other places in mind to explore. We drove past it on Saturday evening, but today we would return and explore its wonders.

The first thing we did, however, was have breakfast. I had read about a great breakfast place in Sequim. Since breakfast is my wife’s favorite meal to eat out, I decided we would go there. The interesting thing was that here, for the first time, we had to show proof of COVID immunization to be able to be seated in the restaurant. This was a county decision. It was nice knowing only vaccinated patrons were in the restaurant. It definitely made us feel safer.

After breakfast we headed out to Sequim’s spit. If you are unfamiliar with that term, a spit is a narrow section of land that juts out into the water. The one in Sequim is considered one of the largest in the US at nearly six miles long. It is actually called the Dungeness Spit and is part of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service operates a system of National Wildlife Refuges across the US. Previously I have shared about two others, the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge near Centralia, Washington and Kilauea Wildlife Refuge in Kauai, Hawaii.

We had some trouble finding the entrance to the spit. We initially didn’t realize that the trailhead was at the Wildlife Refuge, but we finally figured it out. Dungeness Wildlife Refuge is actually quite large. There is a camping area that one passes through before arriving at the parking lot for the spit. There is a $3 fee for entering the refuge, but our Senior America the Beautiful pass took care of that.

From the parking area it is actually quite a hike down to the spit. We walked down a short distance and came to a sign which directed us to take a different path down called the primitive path. The main path was fairly wide and groups could walk down side by side. The primitive path was really narrow, and it would be hard to walk side by side. It was not clear why we were directed to this path. Perhaps they were trying to keep groups from meeting each other for social distancing.

The primitive path was nearly a mile down to the spit. It was actually a lovely walk, and at one point we encountered a doe and her fawn who quickly ran into the woods. It is a wooded trail so it would be a cool walk on a hot summer day.

We finally came to the end of the trail, and there was a platform to look out over the spit. We could see the rugged conditions of the beach from here as well as the quiet and serene waters of the bay on the other side of the spit. From the viewing platform it is just a short walk farther down to the sand of the spit. However, it is a somewhat steep walk down.

The first thing that caught our attention on the spit were the waves. They were really crashing into the beach, and some of them were quite tall. There seemed to be a pattern of three or four really tall waves, and then it would calm down some with just some shorter waves. Then the series of tall waves would start up again. Here was my chance to work on my wave photography, and throughout our time here I did just that.

I took a lot of photos hoping to get some really interesting photos of the waves. I particularly liked the way the waves would kind of crash down a line. It reminded me of the Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes. I used two different lenses as we walked out. Here are some of my better shots. Processing them was also a challenge. Trying to keep white surf and blue water is more challenging than one might think, but that taught me more about the process.

I had thought that we would walk about two miles down the spit. However, considering that we had already walked nearly a mile to get to it, I decided that we would just try to walk a mile. That in itself proved to be a challenge. This was not a particularly sandy beach. It was really more a rocky beach with patches of sand here and there. Piled driftwood and a lot of seaweed strewn around the beach created walking obstacles as well. It was a tricky place to walk. Between the challenge of walking and being distracted by another big wave coming in, we were not setting a very fast pace going down the beach. On the other side of the spit we saw calmer water and sandier beaches, but we couldn’t walk in that area.

All along the way were signs indicating that we were to stay on the side of the beach with the waves. The other side was the wildlife habitat. The Dungeness Wildlife Refuge is in large part a bird sanctuary. Unfortunately, when we were there, we did not see a lot of birds. However, there were a few around sitting on the driftwood which allowed for a few nice photo opportunities.

Then there was the driftwood. The various formations of the driftwood intrigued me. I saw them as God’s artistic creations. Sometimes they reminded me of specific things. Other times they just had a unique form or interesting shape. Some of them were buried in the sand and seemed fairly permanent. The waves continued to toss others around. It was definitely a place where one’s imagination could run wild. Do you see my dragon in the photos?

At the end of the spit sits the New Dungeness Lighthouse. It’s possible to walk out to the lighthouse, but that is a five mile trek. It is open to visitors, and in fact people can stay at the lighthouse as a keeper for a week. While getting closer would have been great, I did capture some photos of it using my telephoto lens. In each of the photos I changed the overall color to give it a different feel. The third one has more of a tropical tone rather than a cold northwest look. I liked that.

After we had walked nearly a mile, we encountered two women who were walking back to the trailhead. They asked us if we knew what time high tide came. My wife picked up that perhaps this was something we should be concerned about. The women said it was getting close to high tide. We finished up our mile quickly and then turned around.

We soon discovered that yes, the tide was getting higher as it became more and more difficult to navigate the water as the waves crashed. It also seemed that the waves were getting higher meaning the water was coming up higher. A few times on our way back we had to scramble away from the water. At one point I lost and got me feet wet. We were relieved when we finally made it back to the trailhead. We stood there for a while just watching the crashing waves. It can be rather mesmerizing to watch them come again and again and again.

Finally we left and paused at the lookout platform and then discovered another information platform as we walked back by the main trail rather than the primitive trail. This trail was shorter, but also not as interesting so I would recommend using the primitive trail for at least one way of your hike to the spit.

We drove back into Sequim to get something to drink and then decided on our next stop, a walk on the Olympic Discovery Trail. This trail will be the final segment of a national trail which crosses the Unites States. The country wide trail will go from Washington DC to the Washington Coast. The Olympic Discovery Trail would be the last segment of this incredible trail. However, like other sections across the country, it is not yet fully complete. The Sequim section is fairly complete so I wanted to walk part of it. We decided to join the trail at the Railroad Trestle Park.

This park’s name refers for an old railroad trestle. The bridge is pretty cool looking. After the trestle section the bridge extends even farther over the Dungeness River and the land beyond. The Native Americans are a part of the effort in building this trail, and there are some native designs incorporated into the bridge as well.

However, the best part of this stop was a total serendipitous moment. The bridge seemed pretty crowded as we were crossing it with people looking down into an offshoot of the Dungeness River. When we looked down, we saw that salmon were spawning in the waters below. It was quite fascinating. There was a lot of movement and even some fighting amongst the fish. I put on my telephoto lens and decided to shoot a video. I think it turned out pretty well.

We finally left the bridge and started our walk. We walked about a mile and a half. Part of it was through neighborhoods and fields, but then we came to a more industrial area of town. We enjoyed seeing some fall colors as well as some nice views of the Dungeness River. We were getting pretty tired by the time we returned. All in all we had walked about seven miles this day. We certainly got our exercise. So it was back to our motel to find some sustenance and get a good night’s rest to be ready for tomorrow’s adventures.

Have you visited the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge in Sequim or walked any sections of the Olympic Discovery Trail? If you have, I’d love for you to share your experiences in the comment box below.

We are not quite halfway through our Olympic Peninsula trip so come back next Wednesday as we take a drive along the Strait of Juan de Fuca.