Artist’s Date: North Creek Park, Mill Creek, WA

Boardwalk in North Creek Park

Mill Creek, WA celebrates reforested old-growth wetlands. North Creek Park is a huge urban wetland with a 3/4 mile floating boardwalk.

Old Growth Tree Trunk

This massive old growth tree is at the south entrance of the park.

The limbs are so huge that they bend at the ground and appear to each be a tree.

Canadian goose in the marsh.

In a month, the grasses will be so tall that it will be nearly impossible to see the ducks and geese floating on the water above massive peat bogs.

Red-winged blackbirds

I heard these red-winged blackbirds’ song long before I was able to capture this photo. The chorus of birdsong is glorious, but the birds are shy and cautious. I saw a red-tailed hawk soaring and hunting, and I’ve been told the wetland is also home to a bald eagle family as well as beavers.

Marsh grass

The grasses floating in the marsh dance a ballet with the strong currents of North Creek. I will confess that it felt creepy bouncing along the boardwalk and wondering whether recent repairs would keep me from falling into the chilly waters. I was glad to be back on solid ground, and I wished I had gone back to photograph the super moon. The trees around my apartment complex are so towering that I wasn’t able to see it from home.