[like2thruhike]

Is it legal to dive in active beaver ponds? I'd imagine you'd get Giardia if you didn't rinse off completely. In my travels I've seen a few beaver. They're pretty cool to see in the water but I've heard they're not so docile on land if you're in close proximity. I've been seeing lots of signs they're active in the cascades. They're protected? These pics were taken along the Continental Divide years ago. I watched from a far. They're interesting sustainable organic engineers.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

There are beavers at Meadowbrook Pond, near Nathan Hale High School. I've seen them swimming around several times near dusk. Also a good spot to see herons catching fish.

[Jaberwock]

Lots of beaver in the Chuckanut/Blanchard hills south of Bellingham. Pretty easy to see them during the day. In areas not near roads, houses, etc. the beavers seem to come out when they hear you tromping by and try to scare you off with a tail-slap on the water. Or when walking over their dams to cross wetlands if you knock pieces out and the flow increases I've had them swim up the the dam to fix it without seeing me. Here's the only tail-slap photo I've gotten.

[like2thruhike]

I've been seeing beaver dams all over the place. That's why I posted. One day I'll take more time to view them in a proper way. Kinda like fishing, it takes time.... Heron are cool. They remind me Pterodactyl's in a peaceful way. I saw one between an old logging road and the Bandera runway a few days ago. That was pretty cool. The last one I saw like that was a few years ago in my canoe. But hang out longer if you glide up to them.

[Frosty]

They are reintroducing them in some areas where they want to restore wetland habitat and slow down stream flow.

[EJ]

Go to Alaska! I saw these guys on a short hike from the Denali National Park entrance. I agree, beavers are cool!

I didn't have to wait long to see a beaver at work ferrying grass to its dam.

A few minutes after disappearing with some grass, this beaver resurfaced and headed back for more.

[MyFootHurts]

The only time I ever saw one was while hiking at the Columbia River Deer Refuge or whatever it's called (across the river and east from Astoria).

[Malachai Constant]

In Eastern Canada beavers are common as dirt. We had problem beavers in Issaquah and there was a huge dam at that start of the Sloan route more at most of the lakes on the MLH. All the Lahr in Wells Grey have beaver. Not to mention the ones on the back of nickels.

[touron]

Alaska...Canada...the Cascades...seems like folks are traipsing a long ways when all they really have to do is hop, skip, and jump over to Golden Gardens.

[Snow_Knot]

I had 7 of them flood my lower fields. I let them go when it was only 2, but as they grew, and undercut the driveway to the houses on the road, we had to thin them out. Best time to watch them was around dusk. They would come up to eat about then. They cause a lot of damage. On the plus side, I ended up with a lot of fire wood.

[Bedivere]

There is an old beaver lodge that's pretty much collapsed into nothing and a much newer one adjacent to 520 where it projects from the Arboretum out into the lake. I found multiple signs of beaver chewings-on along the Middle Fork Snoqualmie yesterday. There are lots of 'em around, they just tend to be kind of shy.

[wolffie]

There are some good beaver shots in this; also a lot of nice time-lapse:

[tigermn]

[kawi_200]

My parents have a place on Reed Lake up north near Bellingham/Lake Whatcom. There is a local beaver population that has a dam at the north end of the lake. When it starts to get dark, maybe 7-8pm in the summer is when they usually come out. You'll see it just swimming down lake, back and forth. Also in the early morning before the sun really starts to rise. Like 6am. I've almost never seen them though since I sleep in until 10am. You can make a sound on the dock to induce a tail slap, or if you are still out on the boat and get nearer, they will slap and dissapear. Only once while I was snorkeling around I actually came face to face with one. It was such a quick encounter that both it and I turned and swam away from eachother. I didn't process what it was until I had time to stop and think. Those buck teeth are LARGE!!! My parents have said that they could hear the kits in the dam, they sounded like little kittens meowing. At the beginning section of Greider Lakes hike there is a dam right at the ponds along the old road. Maybe about a mile in. There is also a dam right off the trail at Big Four between the main parking lot and the picnic area. Of course there is the Beaver Lake trail which is almost too pathetic to even go to. Narbeck park up next to Boeing in Everett has a good dam and viewing area. You can even see turtles there in the warm summer days.

[Randito]

The Mercer Slough in Bellevue is a good place to see beaver activity and beavers from a canoe or kayak. If you go during the day you can see chewed logs, branches and perhaps a lodge. If you go at dusk or at night -- you'll get to hear them make their classic "tail slap" warning to other beavers. There is also a lot of bird activity -- including a Great Blue Heron rookery.