Mountains to Strait

It's Always Sunny in Sequim
I worked in sunny Sequim yesterday, a place that gets an average of 15 inches of precipitation per year. I decided to get a dry-weather run in, knowing that it would be raining in Duvall (which averages 48 inches of precipitation per year) for the rest of the week. I drove down to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and ran along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This place rocks.

Aloha
Running along the bluffs and the beach brought me back to Hawaii. Dan and I spent a week there right after I ran my first marathon last October. Nothing compares to running along a beach listening to waves. The Dungeness Spit is a 5-mile long naturally-formed spit at the refuge. I wasn't allowed to run on it since it is an important nesting and resting place for lots of wildlife. I stuck to the beach, the bluff, and the forest trails.

Wildlife Survey
Running at a wildlife refuge is a perfect place to spot wildlife. During my run I saw or heard the following species:

• Hutton's vireo
• Pine siskin
• Gulls
• Spotted towhee
• Purple finch
• Bewick's wren
• Marsh wren
• Golden-crowned kinglet
• Savannah sparrow
• Song sparrow
  
• Northern harrier
• Rough-skinned newt (in the middle of the trail)

Noisy Ravens
The highlight of my run was seeing a large common raven's nest with a few noisy nestlings. I ran right under it! It brought me back to my summers spent in Forks climbing old-growth trees and looking for crow and raven nests. Shout-out to the corvid crew of 1998-2000!