Mud Bay Walk

This morning I did something I haven’t done since I first moved to Rocky Point Road in the late 1970’s. After putting on my oldest shoes and waiting for low tide, I slogged my way along the shore to Mud Bay’s south end to see the wetlands there. The photo above shows the wetlands at high tide as seen looking north from Kelly Road. A split-rail fence, punctuated every 50 feet or so with a sign saying “Wetland Buffer Boundary,” marks their southern end. The fence parallels an access road added in 2007 when several houses were built adjacent to the wetlands.

I wanted to see the wetlands from the Mud Bay side and, short of trespassing through someone’s yard, the only way to get there was by hiking from my house (about half a mile). There’s no trail to speak of. To avoid sinking into the ankle-deep mud I stayed close to the shore, although low-growing Madrona and Douglas fir branches provided frequent obstacles. I followed what appeared to be a raccoon highway; their prints were everywhere. The Mud Bay basin flattens out at the south end, terminating in several acres of wetlands covered mainly by a mixture of pickleweed and a type of marsh grass. To my untrained eye the area seems undamaged from the new houses close by. After watching a great heron work the mudflats in search of breakfast, I hiked back and hosed off.