Otterly magical

/ Tracy Abell

It was a magical interlude.

Emma and I were walking on the Olympic Discovery Trail
after I’d successfully run for the first time in months,
an entire half-mile!
take that, plantar fasciitis!
I was tearfully smiling at the prospect of running again
when I spotted two river otters,
wait, make that four river otters
swimming parallel to the trail,
moving in my direction.

As I spoke softly to them,
“Hello there, friends,”
they turned to look at me,
moving closer and closer to the shore
until they all four were stopped at the water’s edge,
about twenty feet away,
staring directly at me.
I’d also stopped and began to wonder
whether they’d gotten glimpses of Emma
from behind the berm.

My wondering then escalated to
Do they think she’s a fellow river otter
I’ve captured and am walking on a leash?
Are they here to liberate Emma from me?

Side note: I had no camera so have no photos
but look at this public domain image

and tell me that river otter bears no resemblance
to my long-bodied, short-legged Emma Jean-Jean.

In my desire to relieve the river otters’ worries,
I picked up Emma and set her on the berm,
believing that full view would prove she was a canine
rather than a member of the weasel family.

All four otters disappeared underwater!
They reappeared a few yards in the opposite direction
where they came out of the water and onto the beach,
moving toward the boulders.

Do they still believe Emma’s a fellow otter?
Are they coming to rescue her?
I watched the trail above the boulders,
expecting them to appear,
while also hoping they wouldn’t appear
because what would that even mean?

When time passed without a sighting,
I stood on the berm to see where they’d gone.
One otter was visible.
We saw each other at the same moment
and when it went completely still on the boulder,
I understood my presence was now making them nervous.

I softly said, “I promise you Emma isn’t an otter and
you don’t need to worry.”

My sweet, clueless dog and I then continued on our way,
Emma blissfully sniffing the ground
as I replayed what’d just happened
and wondered whether it was all a dream.

I’m documenting this here so I’ll never forget
today’s magical interlude
with the four North American River Otters.

Thank you universe, I receive these gifts.

23 thoughts on “Otterly magical”

    • We were very lucky although I’m not sure how much Emma even noticed. It was an extraordinary experience for me and yet she was probably most excited about something yucky she found on the ground. HA

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  4. Ack, plantar fasciitis! That’s what took me down last year too! I had to have physical therapy for the first time in my life, and I am still recovering, though much improved.

    So cool to see the otters! Be cautious though, give them a wide clearance and keep an eye on them. A lot of people don’t realize how dangerous they can be, but attacks are rare. They can be aggressive and territorial to children and animals close to their size. There was an attack on a child and Grandma in 2014 (Snohomish River) and more recently in 2024 where an otter pulled a kid off the dock in Bellingham (North Puget Sound), fortunately he surfaced and was able to be pulled out by his mother.

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    • Hey there! So sorry to hear about your heel issue but glad you’re much improved. I received great stretching tips from a podiatrist which helped me heal (no pun intended!) although I’m still not completely pain-free.

      Thank you much for the info re the otter interactions. Their cute faces make me forget they’re predators and I assure you I won’t seek out interactions. Doubly glad they didn’t come up onto the trail!

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      • I know you’re a sensible person, Tracy! If I had to guess I would think people-otter interactions in Colorado are either non-existent or very rare, but I’ve never lived in Colorado. CO and WA do seem to have a lot of things in, but I don’t know what you don’t know and I would hate to come off as preachy! 🙂 I’ve never had the opportunity to get a picture of wild otters, so you got a leg up on me there! LOL

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        • I didn’t find your info preachy and really appreciate the heads-up. I certainly wasn’t planning on moving toward them if they came up on the trail, but I also wasn’t alert to potential danger. The photo isn’t mine, it’s public domain. I really wish I’d gotten one, though.

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          • I realized my mistake about the photo after hitting “send” and I don’t know how to edit comments, so I let it go. I still worry about my tone in writing to other people sometimes. I got written up at work once for an email that “wasn’t friendly enough” (for a woman). It would have been a non-issue if it had been written by one of my male coworkers. I know I didn’t do anything wrong, but trying to live up to social expectations is why I’d rather be a lost hermit in the forest if I could.

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  5. An otterly enchanting encounter, Tracy 😊. I love how this moment of river-otter curiosity arrived just as you’d reclaimed that first half-mile—a tender gift of encouragement from the trail and the universe. And Emma absolutely does look like an honorary otter cousin in that photo; thank you for capturing this little piece of magic.

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    • Hello! It really did feel like another gift from the universe and I so appreciate you taking the time to not only read, but to share your thoughts on my experience. Thank you for making me smile, Dalo. Wishing you a beautiful day!

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  6. What a fabulous outing, Tracy! the sheer joy from being able to run again (congratulations! on on!), the conversation with the otters (I wonder what Emma thought of it all), the joy upon reflection of the gifts that come our way. And for sharing it with us so that we in turn may delight in your experience with you.

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