Northwest Trek … No Sneezing This Time!

Friday, 1 June 2018
Gig Harbor RV Resort — Gig Harbor, Washington
Temps: 65F (18C) / 47F (8C)

We were going to do today’s outing yesterday, but the forecast for Eatonville was showing a high probability of rain.  Not optimum for wildlife viewing.  So we postponed our plans to today.  Thus, we began the new month with a day trip that took us to see some of the animals native to the Pacific Northwest in a second growth forest setting.

Back in 1982, one of the day trips we took while living in Tacoma was to Northwest Trek … described these days on the website as “It’s a wildlife park.  It’s a forest.  It’s an adventure.”  For us it was a disaster back then.  Not because anything particularly terrible happened, but because we were at the park for no more than 1/2-hour when we turned around and left.  Why?  Because Mui had a sneezing fit … non-stop hay fever atchoos … one after another.  Not good when you’re on a tram filled with people … not good when you’re trying to view animals.  So, we departed.

When we started planning this visit to Washington, we agreed that we had to try to visit the park.  Today was the day to do so.  And it almost ended in disaster again … for a different reason.

Turns out this is the only moose we’ll be seeing today.

Imagine our horror when we arrived to find not one, not two, but … well, numerous school buses!  OMG!!!  We went up to the window to get tickets in exchange for our pre-purchased vouchers ($20.95pp … discounted from $23pp at the gate) and our horror grew!  There were 500 young school kids visiting the park today … as evidenced by the screams coming from inside.  Nothing to do except to grin and bear it.  And that’s what we did.

Not all of the wildlife at NW Trek is live!

Saying that it would be a kids-free ride, the attendant at the ticket booth assigned us to the 11:00a tram … included in the admission.  That left us with 45 minutes for a quick roam … time enough to visit the black bears before heading to the tram station.

Black Bear checking out visitors.

Turns out kids-free only meant no school kids.  No problem as these young people were much better behaved.  Once we were all settled in our seats, the driver made a point of saying that we were on one of the original trams from 1975 … when the park first opened to visitors.  We didn’t quite get the reason why that was especially important until we repeated the tram ride later in the afternoon.  The older tram cars have bigger windows.  That they opened helped with photography.  However, the tour is a rolling one, with the tram never coming to a full stop, so some photo ops suffered a bit.

One of the ponds where the free-roaming herds hang out … none here today.

The tram takes visitors on a 40-minute discovery tour through the meadows, forests, lakes and wetlands that are home to free-roaming herds of animals … moose, bison, Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, bighorn sheep and mountain goats, caribou, trumpeter swans, and more.  The free-roaming area is part of a bigger property that is operated by Metro Tacoma Parks.  The original land was donated in 1971 … but has been added to considerably since then.

This Big Horn Sheep Lamb is one of several baby animals we see today.

Roosevelt Elk males … hiding in the tall grass.

Roosevelt Elk (Female)

American Bison … feeding time!

Caribou

After the tram ride, we went to see the animals in the fenced-in habitats.  We wandered the meandering paths through the second-growth forest, checking out the cats — cougar, lynx, and bobcat; the canines — gray wolf and red fox; birds — barn owl, golden eagle, snowy owl, and turkey vulture.  And of course went back to see the black bears again.  There are forest and wetlands critters as well, but several were off-exhibit, and others were being shy.

Gray Wolf

Red Fox … being shy today.

Bobcat

After walking the full DIY loop, we went on another tram ride.  I don’t know if this is the norm, but the ticket clerk accommodated us when we asked if we could repeat the ride.  This time we sat on the left side of the tram … a newer one with smaller windows, which opened only in one direction.  Mui made sure we got seats in a row where I could shoot through the open glass.  The morning tour was better, but it was nice to see the animals again … didn’t catch a glimpse of the moose this time either.

The skies brighten for our afternoon ride through the free-roaming area.

Big Horn Sheep … photo on the left is not great, but I like the composition with the flowers.

One of the wetlands where the animals hang out … no one here this afternoon.

Not all of the windows open on the newer trams, but we find one that does.

American Bison … heading home.

Roosevelt Elk … with all those flies, no wonder she’s scratching.

One last loop around the DIY habitats wrapped up our visit — worthwhile as the cougar was strutting his stuff!  It was 3:30p when we left, completely spacing out the nature trails at the park … oops!  I guess we’ll just have to visit again when we return to the PacNW … and we’ll do a special photography tour and get early admission to the park next time.

Cougar

Snowy Owl and Golden Eagle … unable to fly, they have found a home at NW Trek.

Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of traffic on all the roads heading north towards Gig Harbor.  Still, nothing compared to what the poor souls in the southbound lanes of I-5 were having to endure.

We wrapped up our day with dinner at Anthony’s in Gig Harbor … to which we walked from the RV resort.  Frankly, it was disappointing.  The view from our booth was nice … but the food was bland … even the chocolate lava cake they comped us when we expressed our disappointment with the main courses.  This meal definitely falls in the you win some, you lose some category.

Double the pleasure in Gig Harbor.  Good view … food so, so.

If you’re interested in seeing more photos from today, click here to visit my online gallery.

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