Sunday, September 19, 2021

Whidbey Getaway, Part 3: Walking On the Wild Side

 The dike on Deer Lagoon is hardly the wild side, but I liked the title, and my second walk is a bit wilder.

Our weather for our short stay at the cabin was mostly fair: cool, often cloudy, sometimes sunny, and with a bit of rain. Typical September. 

I walk on the beach road often when I'm there. It's right out the door, flat, not busy, and it's easy to get in a mile and then end up at the beach.

At least once a trip, especially in  spring and fall, I like to hike the dike, which separates the wetlands from the tidal lagoon. It's only about a mile round trip unless I extend it farther, but the subtle autumn colors and the sky, reflected in the full lagoon when the tide is in, make for a very pleasant walk. 



Snowberries and wild rose hips add color to the tawny grasses and yellowing leaves.




My second featured walk was a bit more of a destination. We have driven by a sign on the highway that says "Earth Sanctuary" many times, and we have heard of it, but although is is not very far from our cabin, we have never been there. It was time to check it out.

Earth Sanctuary combines exemplary ecology with art and spirit to create a sanctuary for birds and wildlife and a peaceful place for personal renewal and spiritual connection.

The online photos are of an earlier time when everything was fresh and new. Things age. But the wildness of the place and the trees that were planted as an arboretum still shape this nature reserve, punctuated by sculpture and rock cairns and even a temple. 

We walked some this way and some that way, avoiding the steep places. I would have loved to do the whole loop around the pond but that is not for me anymore. There was a lack of bird song this day, but I very much liked my walk on the wild side of the pond.












Birds and bugs and critters make good use of the decaying trees here.

The less wild side. The trees on the left are some that were planted when the sanctuary was newly formed.





Say a little prayer for peace. 

It is indeed a peaceful place. I think we will need to come back in the spring when the woods and pond are full of bird song. 



8 comments:

  1. It's a very nice sanctuary and a place to visit again and again. Love your sweet walks, Linda. You are still getting out there! :-)

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  2. Both of those paths would be somewhere I'd love to walk. Nice that it didn't rain.

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  3. You had a wonderful trip to the island. This sanctuary is a place I'd love to explore too. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. What a great walk. People need somewhere where they can get out.

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  5. Interesting how we can ignore places to visit if they are close to us. That was an interesting sculpture and with you beside it I can see how big it really is. Glad you decided to visit and take us with you. Had to smile at all the rock piles. We do that here in as the ground is so rocky. When you find one, you start a pile.

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  6. What a great place! I didn't see a single light. It must be pitch black at night and so removed from "civilization". Scary but wonderful.

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  7. Thank you for taking us on this lovely walk with you, Linda. It’s making me feel like I am being lazy over here though. I need to get off my bottom and start moving.

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