On Saturday, October 13th, We got the opportunity to take a nice family drive in a nice new car. My mom went out of town with some friends and she let us use the car. So we decided to drive down to NW trek. This wildlife park is just outside of Eatonville, about 1 hour and 45 minute drive. The weather was beautiful and Mt. Rainier was so big and beautiful you could almost touch it. We arrived and quickly went for our tram ride. This is a 50 minute ride through 300+ acres of forest, wetlands and grasslands to look for bison, elk, deer, mountain goats, big horn sheep, caribou, moose and lots of birds and other smaller forest animals. We saw most of the animals listed above. We had to stop for a crossing guarder snake. We also saw the only moose in the park which is very rare for the tour. Avery loved seeing the animals and kept asking if she could pet them. After the tram ride we started on the path to see the other animals. We visited the bears, wolves, big cats and then headed for the bathrooms. We had brought a cooler with a picnic lunch and sat in the courtyard and enjoyed the surroundings. We headed back out on the path towards the smaller forest animals. We saw raccoons, a fisher, wolverines, beavers, skunks, river otters and the badgers. We listened to a couple of the handlers talk about the skunks and beavers. They were being feed and/or trained for educational programs. We finally made it to see the owls and eagles. We decided it was time to head home. Avery was asleep quickly and Joe and I enjoyed the quiet ride home. We had a great family day and loved learning about all the animals at the park. We are going back in the spring to see the babies!!
This is GG's new car. We had a very enjoyable ride to the park and we also cleaned it for her on Sunday.
Papa and Avery.......she loved the smaller critters and she would giggle when they did something funny or silly.
Avery and mama
These were a few of the deer we saw on the tram ride. They were spread out all over the place.
Two mt. goats just chilling on the side of the road. There were actually 4 right in a row, but I couldn't get them all in the photo. It was funny.
This was one of the 3 bison bulls that were next to the rode during our tram ride. Unfortunately we didn't see any of the female bison, they must have been hiding in the woods.
This was one of the four "satellite" elk bulls. He basically lost the fight for the females and stays to himself for the next few months.
We were happily surprised when we arrived at this exhibit. One of the bears was sleeping behind a tree and then through the bushes this black bear started walking out and checking out the smells in the air.
The grizzly bears were sleepy. One slept while the other looked around and within minutes went to sleep too.
The wolves were busy. We saw 5. Three of them were up and looking around at things and the other two were just sitting biting at flies.
All the big cats were visible. The lynx was just chilling under the trees. There were two cougars. One was resting against a log and this one was pacing a bit and then found a place to lie down. She had a limp. The bobcats were fun to watch because one of them found something in a log. It was digging and scratching at it for a while.
The beavers were very busy. They were being fed during our visit. Avery kept telling us that they were eating corn and apples. We saw 4 beavers. They were all swimming and then all decided to go rest in their den.
The badgers were feisty. One even growled at me when I approached the wall.
Joe and I both think that raccoons are cute. Only when they are behind the wall. The two on exhibit were very curious about their visitors.
The two skunks are not related. The smaller one is about 8 years old and was fed during a training session with the larger one. The handler told us that the larger skunk is about 3 years old and is used to teach kids. He was training her for the crate carrier. The glands that allow them to spray were removed. No worries!!Mount Rainier on the way home. The grey clouds weren't there on the way to the park. It was a very pretty site.
We are looking forward to the spring....there are lots of babies expected!!!!
