Beyond the quackshacks, the prize of a 45 mns walk

If you continue to follow the dike after the quackshacks, you get into the wildlife area. A sanctuary that starts with a woodsy path bordered by swamps, dense berry thickets, immense trees, Firs, Cedars, cottonwoods, red elderberries, I can't recall them all. The path itself is shaded, grassy and soft under the feet. You'd better not be on a mission when you go there, for you'll get distracted by all sorts of things on the way: Skunk cabbage - what an incredible plant- a couple of little wooden bridges on the right over a slough, overlooking fields. If you go on the bridge you discover that the still water of the slough is mostly covered with a thick coat of green, sometimes reddish, mossy substance, and bordered with giant grasses. Insects. Organic matter in all its splendor. Life.

As you walk further away, the trees start to change and rarefy, the air circulates better, and you can start smelling the iodine, a faint smell at first. Then as you approach the bay the swamps turn into small lagunas, cluttered with logs and driftwood. Nature's sculpture. The iodine smell gets stronger: just follow it.

As you reach the bay area there's a viewpoint with benches, you can sit, rest, and have a first sight of the estuary. Then if you really want to be there, you have to engage in a dense, thick thicket and elbow your way through. You may think this leads nowhere, but it does. And then your efforts are rewarded, you are there. Suddenly, you're in the open, no trees, except from those huge logs, the driftwood, and the vast expanse of water, sky, grasses, pools, and mud. For the estuary is VERY muddy. If you don't like the sensation of your feet slighly sinking in, and the ploc-ploc noise with each step, turn back. For if you want to be by the bay, that's what you have to do, walk in the mud, climb gigantic logs, but when you're there, it's the edge of the world. It's as good as a trip to Patagonia. When I go I like to walk, climb, explore, touch, for a while, and then just sit, breathe, smell, and watch. Drink it in, by truckloads. No risk of intoxication, so fill your lungs, your nostrils, your ears, rinse your eyes. Who needs to take a relaxation class? Just step outside. It's there.