The past month has been busy getting ready to open the season. Once the road was open, things went fast! New staff arrived, and staff training week was held amidst snow flurries.
We ran our first program - a Wilderness First Responder Re-cert course. Opal Creek's charm impressed as always as we greeted old friends and met new folks who share our love for wild places.
Spring has returned to the rest of the Northwest, and is on its way to Jawbone. We headed up to the San Juan islands last weekend to visit some old friends and catch some time on the salt water. We had a wonderful time, saw harbor seals, porpoises, bald eagles, cormorants, and even a peregrine falcon diving off the sheer cliffs on Stewart Island. We spent a night visiting our old bosses from OMSI, the Jones, on their private 40 acre island where they now run a French camp. Then we headed over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and visited our friends Brian and Amy and family. Brian was the past ED of Opal Creek - and it was great to see them again and share where Opal Creek is now.
We spent two nights out on Brian and Amy's sailboat, and sailed to Stewart Island. On Saturday, we rowed to shore and hiked across Stewart Island to Turn Point. We explored tide pools, watched the boats, and looked out at an expansive view of the Canadian Gulf Islands. What a day. Here's a few shots of the boat and Turn Point.
