Dungeness, day 2, afternoon

September, 2020

I thought I might get out onto Dungeness Spit this afternoon, but no, I didn’t. Instead I met friends for lunch, and then I went for a walk on a beach that they highly recommended. The beach was right on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, just outside of Sequim Bay, and sort of around the corner (southwest) from the Spit. It was great! Let’s go.

As soon as I stepped onto the beach, I turned left. You can turn to the right instead and have another/different great beach walk, which I did later in the week, but today I turned to the left. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)

The beach seemed to go on forever. The cliffs on the left were so impressive (just wait until you see details of them out there at the end of the beach!). And the water of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was so still and calm. I saw one other human being (and one dog) during the entire three hours that I walked here. It was magical.

Below is the view out over the water, slightly to the right. That large chunk of dark land out there is the other side of Sequim Bay. It’s all part of the Olympic Peninsula, the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.

In the photo above, you can just barely see an island out there just to the left of center in the photo. Here’s a close-up of the island below.

The island is Protection Island, so named because it sits outside Discovery Bay and protects it somewhat from winter storms and the ravages of wakes from passing ocean ships. The island is a federally protected National Wildlife Refuge for birds and marine mammals. There is one human who still has a home on the island and has life-time use of that home since he was there before the federal designation was established.

Above … looking north.

Below … I finally turned left again and got back on my beach walk. There’s just so much to see in the world.

 See the white spot out on the end of the green area, near the water?

 

 

 

For those of you who don’t have experience with these sorts of seaweed beaches, the green stuff above is very slippery. Choose your steps carefully.

Further on along the beach …

The photo above shows a portion of the cliff where just about all of the cliff has been eroded over time … just this one “monolith” is still standing.

It seemed to have eyes that were still watching.

Further along yet, in the photo above, on the left side of the photo, you’ll see part of a tree leaning against the cliff.

Every year, storms beat against the beach and against the cliff here. Every so often a portion of the cliff comes tumbling down, and every so often trees come with it. What’s left of the tree above that had come tumbling down was about 25-30 feet tall and about 4 feet in diameter.

In the photo below, you’ll see the only other human I saw on this beach walk. This might give you some perspective about how tall the cliffs are.

 

This cliff was fascinating. As the cliff got taller, I noticed more sand and rocks at the bottom where the cliff face had crumbled and fallen in the past.

I tended to walk along the water’s edge rather than over by the cliff. Look at the boulders above. They were two to three feet in diameter and wouldn’t be something that I’d like to have fall on me!

The cliff face itself was fascinating and rather artful, with layers of different colors and types of sediment.

 

 

This section of the cliff above was of particular interest. It seemed to be the only one with swirls. One wonders what happened here that year! A tidal wave that ripped out trees and mangled the ground? Glad that didn’t happen while I was here today. 🙂

Here’s a video of the beach shortly after I walked down onto it at the beginning of the walk. Ahhh me, it calms my nerves and relaxes my muslces to watch this. Listen for the seagull near the end … and the wavelets. So peaceful.