`Where the Wild Things Are' Letterbox
Woodard Bay
Lacey
Thurston County
Washington

Directions: Take I-5 to Exit #109 (Martin Road), head West. Turn
right on Sleater Kinney Rd NE. After approx 3 miles, turn left on
56th Ave NE. Then right on Shincke Rd. Veer left on Woodard Bay Rd
(although it might not be marked, the priority road seems to veer
left anyway). After a sharp right turn in the road, you'll veer to
the left and then cross a small bridge and you will see a parking
area on your right, turn into it and park there at the trailhead.

Cost: Free. Start your trek at the parking lot.

Facilities: A primitive restroom is located at Weyer Point (1-1/4
miles into the hike).

`Where the Wild Things Are' Letterbox (my humblest apologies to
author Maurice Sendak):

Level of difficulty: Easy 2 mile walk. Clues easy. Primitive
dirt, gravel & boardwalk trail with stairs and muddy areas.

Setting: Woodard Bay Trail along Henderson Inlet of Puget Sound.
Gorgeous wooded area formerly owned by Weyerhaeuser, Oyster/Clam
Companies and the Woodard Family.

Restrictions: No pets or bicycles.

Clues: Start at the Woodard Bay Trail sign. This time Max awoke in
the middle of the night wearing his wolf suit and wanting to make
more mischief even though he had just woken up from an early trip to
bed without any supper for the mischief he made the night prior. It
seems his mother called "Wild Thing!" and he responded with "I'll
eat you up!" He awoke to find himself amidst a forest that had
grown and grown, with vines hung from above and walls becoming the
world around him. This world included the gentle waters of Woodard
Bay flowing from the Puget Sound and the sloping hillside of the
land that met with the waters of the bay.

Off he went looking for an adventure along the Woodard Bay
trail. Through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost
over a year heading to where the wild things are. Along his trip he
came to a `Loop'y Trail, known as a place where the wild things
live, roaring terrible roars and gnashing terrible teeth, rolling
terrible eyes and showing terrible claws. He ventured along this
trail, braving the wild things and after two sets of stairs saw
the "old man of the forest", a tree with thick bark full of holes
made by woodpeckers. He thought this tree might be 500 years old!
He continued to brave the wild things and soon came to a "dog hair"
forest where the trees are as thick as the hairs on a dog's back;
they look young because they aren't very big around, but they are
actually a half a century or olderthey just live under poor growing
conditions. The wild things continued to roar their terrible roars,
gnash their terrible teeth, roll their terrible eyes and show their
terrible claws. Max only knew of one way to quiet the wild things.
He did this by saying "Be Still" and staring into their yellow eyes
without blinking until the wild things were frightened and
eventually called him, Max, the king of all wild things. He
exclaimed "let the wild rumpus start!" Max & the wild things danced
along the trail, up and down stairs, across board walks, past a red
elderberry sign and 4 benches. They swung from the branches along
the trail leading to a `Y'. They paraded along veering left at
the `Y' and soon tired. Max told the wild things to stop and sent
them all to bed without their supper.

Then Max was lonely and hungry and sitting on that bench
overlooking Chapman Bay! He thought he smelled good things to eat
and headed 4 paces NE from the right side of the bench. Here on his
left, he found a large, dying, fuzzy tree. Within a root at its
right rear side, instead of finding good smells, he found yet
another wild thing; for here is `where the wild things are' lying
under some bark. The wild thing was so hungry and stated "Please
don't goI'll eat you upI love you so!" Max quickly stamped in and
covered it up!

To escape the wild thing, Max quickly headed back to the 'Y',
got back on the main trail to finish the Loop. Along the rest of
the loop, he saw an upturned Douglas-fir tree with very shallow
roots that had fallen during a wind-storm. He remembered that he
should never visit the forest in high winds. Soon, thereafter, he
came to the `poison oak trees'Douglar-fir trees wrapped all around
with poison oak vines the width of an adult arm. These were
definitely `wild' things! A little bit later, he came across a
small wetland that came to be years ago when trees were logged in
this area. He noticed the duckweed carpet on the water and the
newts that were all around. He knew he better not touch the newts,
for their skin was poisonous (though oddly not to garter snakes).
Then, he came to a junction with Witham Road. He headed left so he
could see the awesome sights at Weyer Point and possibly find the
good smells of food. He saw what he could (harbor seals, great blue
herons, kingfishers, sea gulls, clams, oysters & learned a history
lesson or twowhich included a `boat-jacking') but he didn't find
any food. He was still hungry, though. He turned around and headed
along the paved road back toward the good smells of his mother's
cooking and found exactly what he was looking for-- a ride home.

Placed 22 November 2002 by DVN2R CKR

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