Slough Notes: The Trail Itself

There's a lot to love at the Slough--the fog, the light, the wildlife--but they're all made possible and framed by the trail itself.

There’s so much that I love about walking out on the Fobes-Ebey Slough Dike Road Trail, and I’ll explore all those things: the barn at the end, the wildlife (mostly birds), the fog, the light, the history, the relationship to the broader estuarine environment that this is part of. These musings all start on and are enabled by the trail, this 1.5 mile strip of dirt and gravel that takes you away from the meager parking lot and into this marvelous environment. The trail—which rests atop the earthworks built on the southeast side of Ebey Slough—lets you travel between the Slough on one side, the marsh on the other, and it frames the views and catches the light in ways that I find deeply pleasing.

These pictures are ordered not by date but from the start of the trail to the end. If you want to see more, including pictures taking on the return trip, visit my Google Photos album.

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It’s a small parking lot, accessed by an unmarked turn-in. There’s a single garbage can at the gate, tended not by the county but instead by our friends Kyle and Mary. That’s Kyle doing pickup.

The marsh to the right of the first stretch of trail rises and falls with the tide and the level of Ebey Slough.

On November 15, 2021, the Slough briefly overtopped the trail, keeping us away for several days.

Goats patrol the trail on the other side of the Slough.

The water level in the marsh to the southeast of the trail rises and falls independent of the rising and falling of the Slough.

I call this spot “Dead Tree Mile.”

The trail terminates at a metal gate, cloaked in blackberries. With time, more stickers appear (none put there by me, yet).