Change. A storm had blown through in the morning, and rain now threatened. We walked onto the Guemes ferry to explore Kelly’s Point. High tide was receding as we walked west from the ferry landing on Guemes Island, past beach houses large and small. We saw no footprints in the freshly exposed sand, but made our own. Soon we passed a mother and two daughters wrapped up in coats, enjoying their stroll. We walked past Peach Preserve, then passed more homes farther west. A mile from the ferry landing we came to the trailhead for Kelly’s Point. From here north, a half-mile of beach and bluff is owned by the Skagit Land Trust, purchased a few years ago with large and small donations from neighbors and beach-loving people everywhere. It has been saved from development and protected for public access in perpetuity. Strolling beneath the bluffs we could see the power of the sea to reshape the shoreline. Everything here is in constant motion: the tides, the wind, the waves, the driftwood, the beach sand, the trees above the bluffs, the bluffs themselves. Nothing stays in the same place for long. A couple of freshly fallen trees lay on the beach just beyond the trailhead, their roots having been undermined by recent storms. All along the bluff, talus slopes were in motion, sand trickling down in places as we walked by, with huge tumbledown piles of peat or stone or sand being eaten away by the tides. The wind and rains created beautiful patterns in the bluffs, artwork that is ever changing, ever beautiful to see. Some is carved in clay, some in sand, some in glacial till. Beach walkers have created their own artwork in places, placing stones along driftwood edges or in strategic locations to make sculptures of imaginary creatures. As we took our time walking, a man came up behind us, holding an unusual rock. I asked what he had found, and he showed us a stone that had a face on one side, and a different kind of face on the other, if you squinted a little. He said he liked to make sculptures out of what he finds, and share them with all who walk the beach. “The sea rearranges the beach furniture every day, doesn’t it?” he remarked as he moved on. He stopped a little further ahead to offer a prayer, his palms joined together as he faced the bluff then turned to face the sea. Large alders that for a couple years had blocked the beach here were nowhere to be seen, having been removed by some storm in the recent past. Instead, we found new trees had toppled down to the water’s edge, giving us a little challenge to get over them going north, but easy to get around on our return trip as the tide was quickly receding. Willows clung to the edge, budding afresh with their new growth of springtime. A pair of ravens sat resolutely on the hillside, probably protecting a nearby nest of eggs ready to hatch in a few days. Heading back, we felt a rising wind now in our face. Murphy tasted a dead crab that he found. A snail shell we picked up still reeked a little of the life that used to inhabit that home. Trees above us clung to the bluff edge that had been their home for centuries, but which grain by grain was now on the beach below. Beaches bring such peace, such relaxation to be so near to the elemental heart of the northwest, the constant movement of wind and waves and tide, the views of nearby islands, the path before and behind always a surprise of sand and rock and life. Today was no different, but touched my heart with the ever-present change, the serene brutality seen with every step along the briny edge of the sea. jack Slideshow photos by Jack Hartt and Kath Gold
Directions: Take the Guemes ferry from 6th and I Avenue in Anacortes to Guemes Island. There is ample parking at the ferry dock on J Avenue to allow you to walk or ride your bike onto the ferry. From the Guemes Island ferry landing, either walk west along the beach for one mile, or follow South Shore Road for about a mile to the trailhead. By bike: 6th Avenue westbound from downtown Anacortes is bike friendly, level and fairly quiet. South Shore Road on Guemes has very little traffic and rolling, gentle hills as you go west. By bus: Take bus 410 from March’s Point Park and Ride all the way to 6th Avenue; the bus will take you directly to the ferry by request; otherwise it turns south at 6th and M Avenue. Accessibility: From the trailhead the access trail (see photo in slide show) has a short but rough wooden stairway down to a log-strewn beach, which is sandy in places, gravelly in places. If you choose to walk the beach from the ferry landing to the trailhead, be aware that homeowners along the way may own the beach property down to the water’s lowest edge, but generously and graciously allow visitors to walk the shoreline so long as you treat the property with respect and keep your feet on the tidelands, not the uplands. And be sure you time your hike with the tides. The beach may be impassable at high tide.
0 Comments
|
Authors
Maribeth Crandell has been a hiking guide in the Pacific NW for over 20 years. She's lived on Whidbey and Fidalgo Island for decades. As a frequent bus rider she easily makes connections between trails and transit. Archives by date
April 2024
Categories
All
|