September, 2020
There is so much fog and rain on this part of the coast that finding even a few hours of pure, lovely sunshine can be difficult. So far this week, our beach walks have been very pleasant, but foggy. And we had some rain for a couple of days … we didn’t get down on the beach much during those rainy times. But today! Wow! We had sun!
This was my last afternoon at Cape Disappointment. What a great way to end the week.
Again, we walked from our campsites down through the driftwood and then down onto the beach. And as usual, all four of us friends turned to the right, towards that cliff face. It was a Thursday afternoon with not another soul in sight.
As we clambered around in amongst the driftwood, I noticed there was a difference in color between the sand closer to the trees and the sand closer to the ocean. The sand close to the trees and the grass was black; the sand at the edge of the driftwood and out towards the ocean was light grey. There was almost a line between the two types. Why is that? Both colors of sand are in the photo below.
Black sand below.
Light grey sand below.
If any of you folks know why this difference in the color of the sand exists, and why the two types of sand don’t mix where they meet, please educate me.
I continued to be fascinated with that huge section of the cliff face that had separated from the rest of the cliff. As I looked at it from a little distance, it seemed as though the sand, the beach, went in between the cliff itself and the part that had separated. So I walked over there to see what I could see.
Indeed, that tall section of rock with the tree on top of it, that section that had separated, no longer touched the cliff face at all. You could walk in between the cliff face and the tall section that had separated … they no longer touched each other. Not that I wanted to enter that tiny space. It was a narrow passageway, maybe only three feet wide, although it was narrower in places, which made me a bit nervous.
But I went in anyway … you know me, I’m always exploring.
I got part way in, and came around a curve between the two cliff faces, and came face to face with this!
This tree trunk was about three feet in diameter and I’d guess about 12 feet long. I imagine that a monster wave during a winter storm deposited that tree trunk there, who knows how many years ago … shoved that tree trunk right smack in there, never to move again until it decays. Think of the power it would take to do that. I was impressed.
Obviously, I backed out of that corridor and went back to the sunshiny beach and to my friends.
The person above is a Ring Billed Gull. There were lots of them out here.
And then my friends and I walked a little ways down the beach so we could get one last look to the north at the North Head Lighthouse. As much as we thought it was a sunny day, look at the mist and fog out there on the ocean.
We walked and chatted and found interesting little things on the beach. Eventually, we turned around and headed back towards the cliffs that jut out into the Pacific Ocean. The water, the waves, the sounds (loud booms from some of the waves, soft nuzzling sounds from other waves), were mesmerizing.
Even though the ocean was relatively gentle this day, still it seemed determined to tear down these huge cliffs.
Wish I’d had a video of the blast above. We estimated it was 30 feet high. Even at that, it was small compared to that 135 foot high cliff.
Finally, we left the beach, we left the ocean. Each of us said we’d be back and said we would make plans to come back here again together. The ocean is a magnet, and so are friends.
Back at my trailer, I fixed my supper to have with my friends, but I had time to go for one last walk through a bit of the campground before suppertime. This campground is great. It has lots of trees and natural areas between each loop of campsites.
I walked along the path above with Little Towhee hopping along with me. At one point she hopped over onto that green area beside the path and started poking and sniffing in amongst the tiny little green plants that covered the ground.
Little Towhee said, “Ann, what is this? It doesn’t taste good, it’s not tall enough to hide in, it isn’t easy to pluck out in order to use it to make a nest. What’s it good for? What is it?”
I had to admit that I didn’t know. It wasn’t moss, not that I knew anyway. It looked sort of like a fern but it was so amazingly tiny that that didn’t seem right either. What is this little plant? do any of you readers know? Little Towhee and I need your help.
Back at the campsite, I had supper with my friends. We spent one last evening sitting and chatting and remembering our week here. After one last excellent night’s sleep, I was up early the next morning. I tidied up inside the trailer, hitched the trailer to the truck, checked all things that needed checking, then said good-bye to my friends. I drove home using the same route I’d taken down here. I originally thought I would zip over to Interstate 5 and speed home, but I didn’t feel like speeding home. I felt like driving more of the same comfortable country roads that I’d driven on my way down to Cape Disappointment a week ago. Why hurry when you’re happy?