Northwest Trek Adventure

Jess, Satchel and I spent Sunday at Northwest Trek. It was a beautiful day, sunny, warm and we had a spectacular view of Mount Rainier on the drive there. It was an early Father's Day trip and was a great way to spend the day with my family. Satchel loves the zoo so we figured this would be a good outing for us, though lately, with him, you never know. He's been pretty hit-or-miss in terms of his mood lately (wonder who he got that from?) so you just have to go and hope he enjoys it. And I think he did, plus he napped on the way home, which almost never happens anymore.

For those who don't know, Northwest Trek is an animal park in Eatonville, which is about an hour and a half southeast of Seattle, about 35 minutes from Mount Rainier. It focuses on animals and plants/trees that you would find in the Northwest, which is pretty cool. A lot of the animals are located in a giant natural area with a ton of room to roam, so whether you see animals or not is kind of up to them. The predator animals (bears, large cats, some smaller predators like wolverines) are located in enclosures, but the enclosures are fairly large (though it seems they could be larger for the cats) and well put together. So, basically, it's not like they're in a cage. It's not a cheap place to visit at $16 per adult, but kids 2 and under are free, so we got Satchel there with a couple weeks to spare.

So, here's an account of how the day went:

We left the house a little after 10, Satchel seemed fairly excited, mostly because he got to dress up in a "safari" outfit. He was most excited about seeing bison, so I hoped we'd actually see them. It was a nice drive, especially with the view of the mountain, and we rocked out to The Beatles for awhile before Satch started watching videos on Jess' new phone, a piece of equipment that I'm incapable of operating. We started to get a few "are we there yets" but he handled the ride well. We got to the park at about 11:40, and the parking lot was pretty packed. But the park is so big, that it never felt very crowded, except on the tram ride.

11:43: A little boy is crying passionately in a car near ours. Satchel points out that "he's crying, but I'm happy." We'll see how long that lasts.

11:45: We realize we don't have a stroller. That could mean trouble, especially for Jess. Lately, Satchel wants little to do with me if the three of us are together, so we know she's going to be the one doing the carrying.

11:47: Satchel wants to be carried. Shocked! I offer, get turned down, Jess sighs, lifts him up.

Noon: We enter the park. At the admission booth, we donate $5 to some conservation cause and Satchel gets to pick a stuffed animal from a group of four animals. He picks a bison and seems happy with his new friend, which should be good for at least an hour or two of solid behavior, we hope.
12:10: One of the park workers walks by us and we hear her say, "First the male escaped by jumping out of the tank." Jess and I look at each other, but we aren't alarmed because the worker didn't seem particularly frantic, so maybe it was just a frog or something. But I am reminded of my thought as we neared the park, that it felt a lot like Jurassic Park. I don't say anything, but I begin keeping an eye out for Velociraptors.

12:12: Our first animal is a dud. We look around for the lynx, but see no Lynx. Some people say it must not be here today. We hear this a few other times when an animal isn't spotted. Where do the people think it is? It's not like these are clowns and they get the day off. We do see a child's shoe floating in the water inside the enclosure, and I wonder if maybe the child and lynx are together. Probably not, but we keep a closer hold on Satchel.
12:15: Our first animal! The cougar is kind enough to make an appearance, and wow. Quite an impressive cat. I'm sure I've seen cougars before, but I am startled with how big they are. But this cougar seems bored out of its mind. It just paces back and forth in a continual loop. I actually feel kind of bad for it, but not enough that I volunteer to entertain it. Meanwhile, Satchel just wants to see the bison.
12:17: Animal No. 3? Also a dud. No bobcat. Jess says, "Maybe he's the male who got out." I love her. I begin to think this whole park could be a scam. I mean, really, how would we even know they have a bobcat? We better get a better rate of seeing animals quick or. ...well, nothing, but we better.

12:22: We start mentioning the signs we see around the park. Satchel starts singing Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band ("Signs, signs, everywhere signs. ...). He's extremely smart, hears everything and has a great sense of humor and is almost always fun to be around, except when he's not.
12:23: Coyotes! First a glimpse of them running around behind trees. And then they all emerge. It's quite awesome, though they are kind of scraggly looking. But pretty cool, they get pretty close to us, which is fun. And then, of course, one of them squats and drops a load, followed by a nice, long pee. And let me tell you, coyote poop stinks. You will definitely know it if a coyote is around you. Most of us flee.
12:29: Off to the red fox exhibit, though I can't help but hope that we'll see the great Redd Foxx in the enclosure rather than an actual fox. Yes, I know he's been dead for quite awhile, but it would still be cool. I'm disappointed on both fronts: No fox, no Foxx.

12:34: We head inside the research cabin in search of the exotic animal scientist. No scientist, just windows to try to find the wolves, which we do, kind of, far away, lying down. We get a better view of them outside, but they still just lie down. Not sure what I wanted them to do, but something more than being passed out.

12:40: My most anticipated exhibit is a dud. No grizzly bears. The enclosure is kind of big, but not that big. Where could they be hiding? Maybe they do get a day off.

12:44: Jess spots a black bear. But it's just a big lump of black fur sleeping. Come on man, just one small growl for me. Is that too much to ask?

12:46: We make our way over to the tram. It's about an hour loop through the park, really the highlight of the park. We get there and are, literally, the last people in line, but we have our precious yellow tokens so we're assured spots. And this is where we'll see the bison, and it's a vehicle, so Satchel is excited. And we get good seats in the first car! Our guide/driver is this pretty cool guy with a pony tail who has a lot of information and facts, though he can never quite get "red cedar" and "red alder" straight, much to Jess and my amusement.

12:54: Moose! And it's huge! While not nearly as entertaining as the Mariner Moose, it's still pretty impressive. Though, yeah, it's just lying down, eating, resting, probably thinking, "Oh brother, here comes another one."

12:57: Our first bison, and it is also enormous. We saw lots of bison, in fact, which is very exciting for everyone! They are clearly the stars of the tour and very cool. I'm not sure I've ever seen a bison in person before. We even see babies at one point.s Good stuff.

1:00: We see big horn sheep which are pretty cool but look completely disinterested. Then we see mountain goats, which I love. The driver asks, "Can anyone tell me what a mountain goat's biggest threat is on the mountain?" I call out, "Wind!" Turns out my smart ass is kind of right. It's gravity. Then we see some carribou, and then a duck. When the driver says, "Look, you'll see a duck to our left!" Jess says, "I didn't pay $16 for a duck." I love her.

1:42: We come to the end of the tour. Good thing, as Satchel is getting bored. We see a few other animals, a gorup of carribou, some swans (they can weigh up to 45 pounds we learn!), geese, a raccoon. Satchel had fun, he was jazzed up about seeing bison, but there's only so much he can take. But we get one last thrill when a big carribou comes right up to the tram as we're leaving. And how do they shoo it away? With a spray bottle. It works!

2:07: We make our way to see the owls, including a Snow Owl that can barely be bothered to open its eyes, a couple Great Horned Owls and three Barn Owls, which are perched on a pretend barn. Someone wonders if Barn Owls actually have to have a barn in order to be comfortable. Oh yeah, we also see some golden eagles.

2:12: We stop to eat some lunch, which for Satchel consists of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (which is pretty much the only thing he'll ever request) and Jess and I eat popcorn. It's a good time to break, as Satch is losing some energy, and it gives Jess a chance to rest from carrying him around.

2:42: We make our way to the "Forest Animals" exhibit, which is the highlight for me. Unfortunately, I ran out of memory on my card, so I don't have any photos of it. But there was a beaver who was playing hide and seek with Satchel and Satchel was screaming with delight. It was really fun to watch. The beaver would dive under water, then pop up and Satchel would race over to see him. Then it would repeat the process. This went on for a fun 10 minutes or so. It was great. We also see river otters, a badger, porcupine, skunk and a fisher, which my mom reminds me later once nearly killed one of my uncle's cats. Alas, the wolverine kept hidden. I really wanted to see the wolverine, but what are you gonna do?

3:12: One of the workers is doing a trailside talk about possums, one of which is walking along a piece of wood eating food. They're pretty cute, and it's cool because my mom and Satchel had been talking a lot about possums lately and Satchel had never seen one except on the computer. We get a lot of good info. Possums only live to be 2 in the wild (up to 5 in captivity) but are able to fit up to 13 babies in their pouch, and have up to three litters a year. I say, "This guy sure knows his possums." Jess says, "He's the Possum Whisperer."

3:19: We make one last attempt to see the lynx and bobcat, but neither of them are there (the shoe is still in the water, though). We do see that there's another cougar in the enclosure, but both cougars look bored.

3:25: Back to the car. Satchel has held it together great and it was a great way to spend the day. He falls asleep pretty quickly and it's an uneventful ride back. I'd like to go back again sometime, hopefully to see the Grizzly Bear and maybe even that elusive lynx and bobcat. A fun way to spend a beautiful Sunday in the Northwest.