Keeping with the Animal Theme

Northwest Trek is a fantastic wilderness park and nature preserve, located in Eatonville, in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. While you won't find elephants, tigers, exotic birds or fish, what you will find are beautiful animals indigenous to the Pacific Northwest.

The Pac NW is a huge region, the core being made up of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and southeastern Alaska, as well as British Columbia, Canada. Arguments can be made that the NW could also include far northern California, western Montana and western Alberta.

A few years ago, in June, 2000, Michelle & John came out from Maine to visit us for a week. We had only lived in WA a year at the time, so it was a lot of fun for me to take some time off and see some of the sites with them. We wisely chose a weekday to visit Northwest Trek and it was much less crowded than on weekends. I've only been to NW Trek the one time, because both the drive and the crowds on the weekend are not something I wish to deal with.
The first thing we did was take a tram ride through the largest part of the park. This area is only accessable by tram because the animals roam freely and always have the right of way. So if a herd of slow moving elk decides to hang out on the road, you're going to be there till they decide to move. But what a wonderful way to see these beautiful creatures up close and personal!

As I do not know the names of some of these animals, I invite all of you to fill me in! Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

I love buffalo and bison.

I'm not sure, but these may be Roosevelt Elk.

Going to NW Trek in June allowed for the unexpected but delightful surprise of seeing the newborn animals.

This li'l mountain goat was sooooo cute. Everyone on the tram was cooing and shooting pictures.

Too bad they grow up to be not-so-adorable.

Like Wisconsin and Michigan, we have wolverines up here too.

"Nice rack!"

After the tram, you can walk acres and acres of trails through the natural habits of the smaller critters. The barriers between you and the animals are so natural and unobtrusive, you get the feeling of being right there with them and not like you are in a large zoo. Here's a plump porkypine.

They're destructive and a nuisance, but racoons are just so frickin CUTE!

"Badgers! We don't need no steenkeeng badgers!" Oh come on! You know you were all thinking it.

The otters were a hoot. They had an outdoor pool/river bank set up and you could walk down some stairs and go underneath to see into the pool from under the water level. The otters would swim directly towards your face, their noses even with yours and as they got to the glass, they'd summersault and kick off the glass with their feet, swim back to the other end and do it again. We were laughing so hard. I could have stayed there all day. This was the best picture I could get before he zoomed off.

I love otters. They're soooo cute!

I love bears too.

Here's Michelle on the trail near the wolves and bears areas. I love how the trees look.

The wolves proved to be very elusive, but I was able to get one good shot.

A beautiful mountain lion.

They keep the wings clipped on the birds of prey so that they don't fly away. I have, however, been lucky enough to see bald eagles in the wild and they are breathtaking and noble birds.