S5 Hike #14 - Ankenny National Wildlife Refuge

 

S5 Hike #14 - Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge


Starting Location: parking lot at Ankeny Hill Nature Center

Point of Interest : hiking, education,

Distance: depends on trails.


Difficulty: easy, flat

Bathrooms: nice bathrooms at Nature Center

Parking: yes, paved, and other parking at trail heads

EV Chargers: No


I've come across this Refuge on a "shortcut" to I-5. It's just a few miles from I-5, and the Buena Vista Ferry. There's a short hike of less than a mile at the Nature Center, and then you have to drive to a trailhead.

The short trail at the Nature Center winds through some wetlands, and connects some building which are used for education purposes, like field trips. There are nice views and a variety of plants which are labeled.

While this is a good place to start, if you want to hike, you'll need to drive to a trailhead.







So we went to the Pintail, Egret Marsh Boardwalk trailhead. There's a nice boardwalk that winds through a pretty dense forest, and over a small creek. 










It ends at a small observation shed, where you can see the wildlife that inhabits or visits the refuge. We were here at the end of August, and it's been hot and dry, so it wasn't so wet, so this shed didn't have much for us to observe.

However, this trail does not connect to the other trails, and it's very short. We could see the other trail, but it was not easy to get to. So we went back to the car to drive to another trailhead.











Just up the road is the Pintail Marsh parking lot, and there is a trail here that goes around the marsh. On the trail map, you can see a trail that goes through the marsh, which is slightly raised, like a levee. This is the trail we took. There are a few other trails, and they are not well marked, so take a map with you. 

This trail is level, and mostly dirt and grass, very easy to walk. The marsh had a lot of waterfowl, and plant life.




There is even a small viewing blind you can enter, which has viewing ports you can open and close to watch the nearby wildlife without disturbing them too much.

This trail is closed Oct 1 - April something, so check ahead to make sure it's open before hiking.

This is the kind of place you can come back to to hike the trails you missed the first time, or come back at different times of year to see how much it is different. We were planning to come back perhaps in the Spring, when there is more water and swampland in evidence.
Of course, no hiking trip is complete without having a meal after. We ended up at the Ankeny Winery, which serves a large selection of wines, a tiny selection of beer, and really good wood fired pizza. They have a venue for live music, which we were too early for. This Mediterranean Pizza was very good.





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