Mercer Slough Nature Walk, part 1 November 10, 2002 Excursions to: a multi-clued geocache in what used to be the east shore of Lake Washington.

Over the Slough, crossing marshes and sloughs to find clues   Cindy and Aurie pose next to the sign marking the start of our trail. We headed down to a low valley.
Jeff points at one of the clues -- for this geocache, we had to find clues for coordinates ...which took us to another sign ...and then another sign ...and another ...and finally the geocache itself.
Aurie has been loving the fallen leaves everywhere. She jumps in big piles and kicks the leaves around whenever she can.
Cindy pulls some leaf or stick from her hair. Here she is on the other side of a small stream.
Another sign, this time near a neat tree formation.
We didn't realize that we were on the edge of what used to be the shore of Lake Washington. From this point on, the vegetation became quite different (as we headed down into what used to be underwater).
There were lawns and briar patches, and lots of scrub bushes and small trees. According to the sign in this photo, the extensive root systems are great for filtering out pollutants from the water as it flows downward.
After meandering through marshy areas (with bouncy steps), we ended up at the Slough itself. View from a Footbridge over the Slough, looking north.     Click here to see a larger version of this photo.
View looking south from the bridge. We ended up at that small fishing dock a few minutes later.     Click here to see a larger version of this photo.     Continue on to part 2 of the Mercer Slough geocache.

Photos & Information Uploaded: 11/14/02