After two hot sunny days last weekend at the ocean, Monday dawned foggy, windy and cool. That turned out to be good for a beachwalk with few other people on Second Beach. And in the intermittently dense blowing fog it often felt like we were the only ones there. Second Beach is in Olympic National Park, reached by a ¾ mile trail.
Enjoy the following photodiary of our beachwalk.
Blowing fog creates shadows that run along the beach:
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Low tide means a vast beach. I planned our trip for a few days when there would be low tides midday.
Small flotsam washes up on the beach too. My foot for scale.
This seems early for barnacles to be molting, which they do in October/Nov and April/May. Barnacle molt is triggered by temperature and food supply. The ocean is about 1.5°C warmer than normal right now off the Washington coast — climate change — perhaps that is why they’re molting early.
I was able to walk all the way down to the end of the beach for the first time in years, and it was great to get there. The headland there has all kinds of cool things, accessible at a low tide. You must keep an eye on the time though. When the tide comes in it covers the beach fast.
And a sea cave!
After the mile and a half walk back to the trailhead near Quateata headland, the sand shows more footprints on the beach. Most people tend to stick around at this end of the beach.
A favorite stream near the trailhead deposits tiny grains of dense garnet sediment in ever-changing patterns. A treat to watch for a while before heading back into the woods for the hike back to the road.
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Temps in the high 40s and fairly calm in the Pacific Northwest islands today. Overcast and showery.
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