June, 2023
My last day here. Tomorrow morning I head home. I always try to find something I really like on the last day of a camping trip … or I go back to a place that I really liked, that I visited earlier in the week. On this day, I was thinking about a beach again, but didn’t really know exactly where to go.
So I walked out of that Padilla Bay Breazeale Estuarine Center and wandered down a blacktop foot path towards the cliff above the water, just wandering and thinking about where to go next.
Here’s a video of a bit of the walk with bird sounds galore. At the end of the video, you’ll see a white railing that reminds walkers that there is a busy road there and they need to be careful and that the path ends there.
Well not so!
The path does NOT end there!
As I got closer, I could see some weird structures.
Take a look at the photo below … with a blue car speeding by on the road.
The path goes under the road! At least, it sure looks like it, doesn’t it? But that tunnel seems like an awfully dark hole.
There were stairs down to that dark tunnel, and there was also a ramp down to the tunnel. That seemed friendly, as if all sorts of people are welcome here. So on I went.
Ah, the long dark tunnel!
As you might have guessed, the far end of the tunnel opened out into gorgeous sunshine again, no danger at all. 🙂 Notice the signs overhead, I’ll show you a couple of them.
The layers of red railings at the end of the wooden walkway prevented you from falling down into a hole … actually, the hole is a circular stairway leading down to the beach. Yay, a new part of the beach! 🙂
But let me show you the view from up here, before I head down that stairway.
Photo below, looking to the right, to the north, all manner of islands. And look how far out the tide is.
And photo below, looking to the left, the southern end of Padilla Bay. And the long, long expanse of tide flats. And yet, in fact, when I was here this day, the tide was not all the way out/low. When the tide is at LOW low, the beach (tide flats) extends more than twice as far out as it did this day when I was here.
Ok, here are closeups of a few of those overhead signs.
Notice the photo on the far left in the sign above, and how much beach there is and that you can’t even see the water. Now THAT’s low tide!
And now it was time to head down the circular staircase. Watch your step!
Down and down and around and around. And finally the last few steps.
Ah, the beach. I love Pacific Northwest beaches. There is so much variety. Some are sand, some are gravel, some are barnacles, some are completely covered in slippery seaweed, some are large rocks. All of them are wonderful.
Here’s a video below of the view, and the sound of my shoes rattling along as I walk on these beach rocks.
I spent time walking or standing or sitting and enjoying the beach, the view out across the tide flats, the smells, the sounds.
Ha! and then I looked more closely at the green seaweed parts … those “auger” shell creatures are on this part of the beach too. They must love the calm water, and the shallow depths of tides such that the water temperature remains relatively warm. There were bazillions of these auger shell creatures here. I counted every one! 🙂
And yet there were also large boulders … the large one below was almost 5 feet tall.
The next three photos are looking south, then directly across the bay to the west, and then to the north. I’ll share a few details of what I’m looking at if you’re interested, but if you don’t want the details then please just enjoy the absolutely wonderful, calm, amazing views on this perfect day.
Above … on the left is the oil refinery, currently owned/operated by Marathon … then the truly lovely town of Anacortes in the center … then the hill called Cap Sante … all on Fidalgo Island. Then there’s some low-lying fog/cloud to the right and behind that fog/cloud is Cypress Island. At least, I think it’s Cypress since I think Guemes Island doesn’t have many hills on it, so that must be Cypress Island.
Next photo (below) looking directly west. Again, I think maybe that’s Cypress Island that we see above the cloud on the left. In the middle of the photo is Hat Island, and ok I bet that’s Guemes Island behind Hat Island, and then Saddlebag Island just to the right of Hat. With just a tiny touch of Sinclair Island above Saddlebag. Then another cloud/fog … and then little Jack Island off to the right.
Next photo (below). Wow, I’m not sure. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve spent most of my adult life on boats out on these waters, NOT looking at things from the perspective of the land. But I think that’s Vendovi Island on the left, and then tall Lummi Island in the middle. And I suspect the closer land mass on the right is Samish Island that I drove to the other day, which is actually accessible by land, by the low spit of land to the right of it.
What fun for me to hang out here on the beach for a couple of hours, walking, exploring, and sitting and looking at the islands and trying to figure them out … but also just breathing and smelling and listening (to the birds, to the rocks, to the squish of mud, to the sound of the water, and the sound of me walking on those gravelly rocks). But eventually, it was time to head back to my big white truck, and then head back to the campground.
Here’s that circular staircase as viewed from the beach … three circles of stairs.
At the top of the stairs (below), that tunnel doesn’t look nearly as menacing as it did earlier.
In fact, I stopped and enjoyed the walk along.
The spring budding blackberry vines.
The luscious green Cedar trees.
And then I dared enter the dark tunnel under that roadway again. I came out the other end of the tunnel no problem and took the stairs here that would lead me back up onto the land with the blacktop walkway and eventually back to the Estuarine Center and back to my big white truck.
What a great find! I hadn’t noticed any signs that told of this beach access, but maybe I just missed the signs. Or maybe the folks here don’t like to advertise this too much. Either way, I had a great time and appreciated the planning and time and effort and money that it took to create this beach access.
Ok, let me go find my big white truck in the Padilla Bay Breazeale Estuarine Center parking lot, and then I’ll drive back to the campground for one last quiet evening in the trailer (Towhee the Trailer) before heading home tomorrow. Sigh. What a perfect day.