[Hiker Mama]

I spent some time wandering around the trails of Rosario Head and Bowman Bay. Following are some of my impressions and a few photos of what is in bloom.

What she looked like before she went into the sea.

The legend says that there was a Maiden of Deception Pass who was very beautiful. She was out in the water gathering shellfish one day, when a hand pulled her in. It was a man who lived in the sea, and he had admired her beauty and wanted her to come marry him and live with him in the sea. She brought him back to meet her family, and he talked with her father. The young man reminded them all that the people of the sea were very generous in providing for the needs of the people on the land. But the father was unwilling to let the daughter leave them to live in the sea. The young man left and promised to withhold the bounty of the sea, since he was so angry to have been rejected. The tides stopped going out, the salmon stopped running, and even the freshwater springs dried up. The people became very hungry and poor and there was much suffering. Finally the Maiden begged her father to let her go and marry the man in the sea. He agreed, and she left her family to go live with her new husband. The father’s only request was that she come back once a year to visit so they would know she was well. Then the tides began going out and in again, the salmon came back in greater numbers than before, and the fresh springs started flowing again. The people once more had abundant resources and became rich. Every year the Maiden would come back to visit her family. Each time she came out of the water, she was colder and had barnacles and other sea creatures living on her. And each time she was sadder about having to leave her new home and husband. Finally the father released her from her obligation to visit them on land, and she went back to the sea one last time. Now whenever the people see the kelp beds swaying in the waves, they are reminded of her long hair floating in the water, and they think of her and how the people of the sea provide abundantly for them.

Note the seaweed, barnacles, and fish.

[Read the full version here] ****************************************************** There are times in our lives where we need to let go of something we have been holding onto. And sometimes, when we let go, we are available to be filled by the grace of something else. Herons hunting

Heron

Ravens squawking, echoing Bald eagles chattering as they spiral upward on the thermals Purple orchids surprising

Purple orchids

Indian paintbrush blooming on the cliffs

Indian Paintbrush blooming!

Mossy glens with neon-colored Blue-Eyed Mary flowers

Blue-eyed Mary

Red-flowering currant brightening the early spring forest

Red-flowering currant blossoms

Soopolallie blossoms and a long-legged spider

Soopolallie blooms and leaves

Anemones in tide pools Juncos, house finches, towhees, winter wrens, and even seagulls and crows Mergansers, grebes and other floaters going about their lives on the water Fragrant seaweed in the mudflats

Fragrant seaweed and mud

Madrone trees peeling and aging

Beautiful tree

Orange and warty

Vertigo-inducing cliffs

Off the cliff

Warm spring sun meeting a sharp winter breeze Heart-shaped rock ***************************************************** To live in this world You must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. From the poem In Blackwater Woods by Mary Oliver

The path

And finally, a few other random images:

Bowman Bay from Rosario Head

Interesting pattern on rattlesnake plantain

Colorful Sedum on rocks

Bowman Bay from South

The CCC Interpretive Center was open. It had artifacts and history of the CCC. Someday I'll go back and spend more time there.

[peltoms]

Nice shot of sedum and blue eyed mary. Is blue eyed mary a Penstemon of some type? You captured the serenity of Deception pass well.

[Hiker Mama]

Blue-eyed Mary is in the Scrophularia family. Here is a web page about it. It is a tiny little thing, but in the lighting, and blooming in a mass amongst the verdant moss, it was this amazing neon color. I've seen it before, and always thought it was a sweet little thing, but the light and the large numbers blooming in one spot captured my attention in a different way this time.

[puzzlr]

Thanks for the worthwhile thoughts, and pictures of spring. I'm surprised you had such a sunny day -- Saturday wasn't like that at all where I was (Tiger Mountain).

[seawallrunner]

what a beautifully-written trip report !! You ply magic with your words, Hiker Mama.

[More Cowbell]

Nice report H.M. Love the orchid. I had no idea paintbrush grew around there.

[Hiker Mama]

MC, I didn't know paintbrush grew there, either, and especially wouldn't expect it to be blooming this early. It is in the drier, more exposed areas. It made me feel strange seeing it there, kind of like a time warp feeling, where it doesn't make sense -- the timing or the location. It is just beginning to bloom, so it should be visible for awhile.

[Hiker Mama]

Puzzlr, I was very happy to have sunshine, too. It was hailing in Lynnwood when I left, and there were some foreboding dark clouds as I drove further north. I had mostly sun with a few puffy clouds while I was there, then as I was driving back, there were some impressive cloud formations picking up the evening light just to the east of Mt. Vernon. It was sleeting pretty heavily on the freeway on the way home. I lucked out.

[Newt]

This photo was taken at Deception Pass at the end of Feb. and it's still blooming.

[goats gone wild]

Wonderful story and TR, hiker mama. Looks like you had a great day. I like the "Orange & Warty" photo.