Marsh Walk

[Bill Anderson]

The tidal gate to the Edmonds marsh is closed in late October to prevent winter flooding of adjoining streets and Harbor Square by a "perfect storm" of a king tide + heavy rain. As such, the only water in the marsh this time of year will be fresh water fed by Willow and Shellbarger Creeks. With no tidal inflow from Puget Sound and absent rainfall, the tidal channels are dry mudflats with a few shallow waterways running through them. The recent cold snap in the Puget Sound area has frozen both the mudflats and the waterways.

Sunday morning (12/8) I took advantage of the above conditions to walk out into the marsh. I arrived around 8:15am before the sun had an opportunity to soften the frozen waterways if I wanted to walk across the shallow ones. The overnight low at my house was about 10*F and the temperature was probably in the mid teens while I was at the mash.

All photos: 7D+ 2.8/17-35L wide angle zoom.
The sun started rising over the marsh around 8:25am.


I enjoyed photographing the frozen waterways close up at angles not possible from the walkway and viewing platforms.




I walked across the marsh to Willow Creek, which forms the southern boundary of the marsh. Beyond the tree/hedge line is the old Unocal grounds, which is private property. Beyond the Unocal grounds is Pt. Edwards and the condos.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Near Willow Creek I found something buried in the mud. It looked like a wooden water pipe or a log hollowed out by running water. One of the marsh regulars told me that some very old wooden water pipes were recently discovered in downtown Edmonds when one of the streets was dug up for resurfacing.


Water was running inside the "pipe", even though the outside water was frozen.


Willow Creek was not frozen over. Looking west towards the Marina....


and east towards the fish hatchery.

 

[Bill Anderson]

The surface of Shellbarger Creek looked only partially frozen over, so I did not step on the ice.


I was told last summer that this tall grass is an invasive species kept alive by the fresh water from Shellbarger Creek. If full natural tide flow were allowed to resume, the subsequent intrusion of salt water would kill off this grass and a greater portion of the cattails.




Working my way back west, more shots of the frozen waterways.


In the distance is the boardwalk connecting viewing platforms #1 (l) and #2 (r). I walked over some of the shallow waterways as they were frozen solid, but I did not test deeper ones like this one.

 

[Bill Anderson]

The purple martin gourds put up two years ago by the Pilchuck Chapter of the Audubon Society. No martins ever took up residence in the gourds.


It was still very cold and the sun was just starting to peek through the clouds. Although I only saw two great blue herons, a song sparrow, and two killdeer, there was evidence of wildlife activity.

I assume this track was made by the resident coyote.


These were the most prevalent tracks, which looked like raccoons.




Great blue heron tracks.


I hope you enjoyed this tour of the marsh. I'm sure you are much warmer at the moment than I was when I took the photos.

 

[Bill Anderson]

While walking the marsh, I could not help but think of the "Lost in the Marsh at Sundown" scene from Dersu Uzala, one of my favorite movies.

Go ahead and watch it on You Tube, as it cannot be embedded here and I cannot delete this post.

Dersu Uzala 05 - YouTube

dersu uzala_akira kurosawa - YouTube

 

[Terry O]

Nice job on the sequence of marsh photos, Bill. Great lighting. Glad it was frozen enough to hold you up!

 

[Bill Anderson]

There is a proposal to daylight Willow Creek to restore natural tidal flow to the marsh and a salmon run up Willow Creek. The city has received a grant to study the proposal.
http://myedmondsnews.com/2014/01/edmonds-receives-200000-grant-studying-willow-creek-daylighting/

 

[Bill Anderson]

Fast forward eleven months. The overnight low on my back deck was 15*C this morning, which should have been low enough for the marsh to freeze over. Unfortunately, our furnace picked the coldest day of the year to conk out, so I am stuck waiting all morning at the house for the furnace repairman to arrive. I hope he can fix it today, as I would like to take another early morning marsh walk tomorrow if it is still cold.