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Continue then across the bridge, down the little slope to the raised walkway that passes over Steep Creek again. Sockeye and coho salmon can make their way to this small pond and a bit beyond, but the falls below the upper bridge prevent further upstream movement. From this walkway, one might see dippers foraging for aquatic insects in the gravels, small fish, and drifting (and therefore already doomed) salmon eggs. In salmon season, bears patrol this area and on down to the mouth of the creek, feeding on fish and leaving carcasses all along the banks.

This walkway is the site of the recent adventure of photographers Bob Armstrong and Arnie Hanger. These two guys, intent on photographing birds, looked up to find themselves where nobody ever wants to be. A female black bear with a cub was growling at one end of the walkway, and at the other end was a second cub, bawling for its mama. Well! Over the railing and into the creek went the two photographers, and over the walkway stalked a proud mama bear to reunite her family. Everybody wins!

After the walkway, the trail forks, but both routes lead to the highway. The lefthand one parallels the creek. This part of the creek in recent years was a pond backed up behind a beaver dam at the highway culvert. One can see numerous beaver-chewed trees and some worn spots where beavers habitually trundled from their pond, over the trail, to the pond on the other side. The beaver pond is gone now, because the dam was destroyed and most or all of the beavers were forcibly removed.

Just across the highway from the end of the trail is a sizable pond below the culvert. Adult sockeye and, later, coho often mill around here before passing through the culvert. In late summer this can be a good place to watch great blue herons, both adults and juveniles, foraging for small fish. Ravens and bald eagles sometimes gather in the surrounding trees, and one might see a mink skulking along the shore.

• Mary F. Willson is a retired ecology professor and a Trail Mix board member.