I was wandering through my photos and came across this image of one of the twin barns at the Nisqually – Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge. It wasn’t taken lately, so no, we aren’t having that kind of weather this week. Good think, too. I want some warmer weather, thank you.
Just eat of Olympia on I-5 is the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Excellent for bird watching and nature photography. The twin barns are iconic. The area was a dairy farm in the early years.
I hiked there for years until the dikes were breached to improve salmon habitat by increasing the wetlands.
The building above is used to store food for pack animals used by trail crews. The North Fork trail is one of the heavier used … it’s often the trail of choice for Scouts getting a 50 mile hike in for a merit badge. The Scouts typical route starts up the Elwha and crosses Low Divide and then down the North Fork. The 44.3 miles (shown on the sign below) to Whiskey Bend is misleading, since for the last number of years the road has been washed out and it’s a 5 mile hike to get there from the Elwha Road.
I really enjoy driving back country roads and seeing the old barns that dot the countryside. The variety is nearly endless. I found this one in the high desert in central Oregon.