The 36-mile-long Spruce Railroad was built on the north side of Crescent Lake to deliver old-growth Sitka spruce logs to build airplane frames for World War I. The war ended just before the railroad was completed.
The logging industry used it for almost four decades before the National Park Service converted 4 miles into the Spruce Railroad Trail in 1981, creating a year-round trail with views of the 9-mile-long Olympic National Park lake.
In a sign of the growing awareness of the need to create trails that are accessible for more people, there’s an 1,800-foot east-entrance section that has been improved for accesibility and will include safety rails along some of the steep slopes.
It is about 11 feet wide with a packed gravel surface. It’s part of a multi-year project. Nearly one-half of the trail is now accessible for all.
When completed, the entire length of the Spruce Railroad Trail will be a multipurpose trail to be shared by hikers, bicyclists, equestrians and people traveling by wheelchairs, allowing more people to enjoy the views across the 600-foot-deep lake.
This is a good hike for many abilities because the most scenic section is, from the east trailhead, only a mile down the trail, Devil Point and the Punch Bowl. When a bridge spans a section of the lake, look to the right for a quiet pool called the Punch Bowl.
The trail both hugs the shoreline and drifts higher into the forest. There is a parking area at both ends.
For information, call the ONP’s visitor center at 360-565-3130.
In the long run, the Spruce Railroad Trail will be part of the ambitious Olympic Discovery Trail along almost 130 miles of lowlands from Port Townsend to the Pacific Ocean. About 70 miles have been completed, another 9 miles are under construction, and right-of-way agreements are in place for nearly 90 miles.
For more information about the ODT, go to www.olympicdiscoverytrail.com.
A call for help: Trumpeter swans have no family doctor when they are ill, no emergency room when they are injured, no 911 to call for help. But there is the swan hotline in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties, an ongoing effort by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess the impact of lead poisoning on trumpeter swans.
Many trumpeter swans in those counties, and in southwestern British Columbia, die each winter from ingesting toxic lead shot in areas where they feed. Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunting in Washington for more than 25 years but swans still can ingest lead when foraging in shallow underwater areas in fields. The shot has been there for many decades.
If you see a dead or injured or sick swan, do not handle it. Call the hotline. WDFW or Puget Sound Energy employees and volunteers will retrieve the birds. Several agencies and organizations have worked since 2001 to reduce swan mortality and locate sources of toxic lead shot.
Call 360-466-4345, ext. 266, to report dead, sick or injured swans. Leave a message that includes your name, phone number, location and condition of the swan. The hotline is available 24 hours a day through the end of March.
Trashy walk: The GrassRoots Garbage Gang invites you to walk a section of the Long Beach Peninsula on Jan. 16 and create a cleaner environment for the creatures that use it by collecting trash.
For more information, go to ourbeach.org or email shelly@ourbeach.org.
Sharon Wootton: 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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