For a refreshing change of pace we decided to leave mountain hiking for this outing and headed instead to the Washington coast. Long Beach is host to the marvelous, and LONG, North Head Discovery Trail.

From our starting point in Long Beach to the Northhead Lighthouse in Cape Disappointment State Park - and back again - our total distance on this trek was a whopping 12.8 miles. This gallery may be in our hike collection but with no elevation gain to speak of, we considered it a nice long walk. And walk we did!

What a terrific mix of sights, sounds, wildflowers, and creatures great and small. We enjoyed beach walking with the sound of pounding surf punctuating our steps, along with the rather strident calls of sea birds. Now and again the trail took us, seemingly, far away from the ocean along overgrown berms, complete with grazing deer. The air, still and quiet, was occasionally broken by the light call of a perching bird. As we entered Cape Disappointment State Park we strolled through areas of marshes and forest with their own flavors of birds and flowers. Finally what little elevation gain we encountered led us up to the Northhead Lighthouse and expansive views of the Washington coast line. The history of the lighthouse took us on another kind of adventure. Also, we learned that the well preserved dwellings of former keepers at the site can be rented as lodging when visiting. Tempting!

As it often happens, on there and back outings, the sights were new on our way back to our end point. We decided to leave the trail to walk the sandy beach at about the 8 mile mark of the walk back. What a payoff we got for that choice!! At least 3 young bald eagles were hanging out on the beach, taking flight high into the air, and landing again to feed on the carcass of an expired sea lion. Other sea birds were dining on their share as well, including a 'highness" of Royal Terns. Their brilliant orange bills were a beautiful color spot even as they flew above us.

We were well pleased with our choice to try a different kind of 'hike' experience this time out. All the activity we had gotten with home projects over the course of the spring apparently served us well. We were tired but by no means exhausted from the long bright day of exercise. All in all, this was one fabulous day on the trail.

#nvrstpwalkin