I’ve enjoyed, studied, mapped, and tried to protect wet places for pretty much my entire life. So, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some with you.

Top of my list are salt marshes. Those along the shore may be reachable simply because they are fringing a beach or at the mouth of a river or stream. Others may be reached by canoe or kayak, but given how much of Washington shores are privately owned, it’s a good idea to check that the salt marsh you want to visit has public access.

thorndyke bay (hood canal)

My introduction to salt marshes was at the age of 13. My Grandpa took me duck hunting to his spot on Thorndyke Bay. In those days we could easily access the bay by way of a road from Highway 104. Today you can get here best by small boat or kayak.

Kayaking or canoeing down from the north allows you to trace a unique piece of shoreline. High, clay bluffs line the shore from South Point to the bay. Here is where an occasional mastodon tusk falls from the glacial leavings and if you are at a low tide, Dungeness crab await in the eelgrass shallows, or sea-run cutthroat lurk, interested in a variety of flies you might toss. Here too, maple trees seem to fall onto the beach as if pulled on a carpet from above. Not a good place to build your dream home!

Once at the bay, you will first notice a long spit like many others in the Salish Sea. The inner, more protected edges of the spit are lined with a variety of plants that live in this environment and pretty much no place else. Here, where the spit protects the inner bay waters where Thorndyke Creek flows into Hood Canal, was where I fell in love with native plants like gumweed, pickleweed and salt grass.

Photo courtesy of Anemone123, Pixabay

Pickleweed photo courtesy of Mary Jo Adams

Salt grass has beautifully arranged branched blades and if you spread the plants away from the damp soil, you will probably find tiny snails. These are Newcomb’s littorine snails (also knows as Newcomb’s periwinkle), once thought to be rare but more recent studies have shown them to be relatively common.

Thorndyke remains a beautiful marsh and one worth visiting even if it takes a bit of effort to reach. If you visit in August or September you will be greeted by flocks of shorebirds and hundreds of wigeon, a few pintails, and an occasional mallard, plus some green winged teal and bufflehead ducks.

foulweather bluff

A similar marsh, and easier to reach, is the Foulweather Bluff marsh in Hansville, in North Kitsap County. Drive into Hansville and then turn west on Twin Spits Road and follow it until it ends at the beach. Park at the road end and walk to the north. Best at low tide, you can trace the edge of the beach until you come to a shallow and easily forded channel. This narrow bit of water drains a blind lagoon, where no stream enters the lagoon, just tidal flow.

You will be in for a real treat if you visit here in April or May. For some reason juvenile chum and pink salmon flood into the lagoon through this narrow opening to feed for a while. Hundreds of baby salmon do this each year, and though not easy to see, you can spot them.

keep your eyes open for surprises

Be aware of the edges of the salt marsh when you are walking beaches. As an example, I was recently leading a group of S’Klallam youth on a field trip to places their ancestors had lived. We walked out across a marshy area and were returning to our vehicles, when I stopped the kids and pointed down at the edge of the marsh and said, “This is the kind of place you will find…” As if I had placed it there, an ancient adze blade appeared, poking out of the edge of the marshy mud. The blade is now with the tribe and now in a position of helping you learn about such things.

So, please look and tread carefully on marshy ground. Waves wash over and sometimes reveal pieces of the past, sometimes revealing ancient places and artifacts.

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