Tag Archives: North Beach

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Among rocks

These are just rocks, right? We heard the birds in the rocks before we saw them: black oystercatchers. They make a wonderfulย  queep call and we stopped to look for them right away. They are very quick searching the rocks. This is taken with a zoom lens and I didn’t want to go closer and disturb them.

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Pair

Hiking last Saturday, we both heard and alerted to a bird call. Here: song.

However, there were two, and not an alarm call.

We spotted both and then on the hike back, here they are, perched in the snag. A pair of adult bald eagles. I think it was flirting calls that we heard, or a pair talking about this year’s nest.

I am so glad that bald eagles are back in numbers…. and that we are protecting them.

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On a rock

And who is this on the rock? We are facing north, on the beach walk from North Beach to Cape George. We are looking across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island.

According to the Cape George website, it’s 6.5 miles from Port Townsend. However, that may be by map or road or as the crow flies. My phone claims that I walked for 5 hours and 47 minutes. I had the location turned off, so it does not include distance.

 

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Clay layers

This clay boulder is about 3 feet by 3 feet by one foot. This slide from the cliff is recent enough that the clay has split and the layers are unmarred. It is all too easy to imagine standing there when the cliff comes down. We stepped carefully between the boulders, trying to stay on gravel, because the clay is way too slippery. Clay is aluminum silicates with small particles and a sheetlike structure. It can contain iron, as the brown streaks in here show. The sheetlike structure is very clear.

This is for photrablogger’s Mundane Monday # 97.

 

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Cape hike and clay layers

My friend J is here for the weekend. He used to live here. High tide was around 9 yesterday and he invited me on a long beach hike. From North Beach to Cape George and back. J says that this is 10-12 miles round trip.

We park at North Beach and start the hike. The tide was still going out. The beach curves along bluffs that get quite high. These bluffs are a mix of clay and sand and sections collapse. I was walking along North Beach once when it was raining after a dry spell. I hear little trickles of sand and there are small collapses that I can see…. I turned back.

This is a photo of the bluff after a fairly recent big collapse. The chunks of clay and rock and trees go all the way out to the water line. J. has seen a big collapse when hiking and said it was terrifying.

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The chunks of clay are a dark grey, a lighter gray and an orange color and there they are in the cliff face. We both wish that we had more geology training.

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The hike was beautiful. My feet complained at me for the last half mile coming back. J. said that he has invited more than 20 people to go with him over the years, and I am the only one who has. I am glad that I didn’t whine. Today I am limping a bit and sore, but it will get better.

A beautiful hike….