THE BEACH THAT TIME FORGOT

If you continue hiking Shi Shi Beach southward and pass beyond the Point of Arches, you will enter a new mystical almost unearthly realm. The above picture is of the first cove below Shi Shi Beach. As we plodded through the deep sand and navigated the ancient craggy black boulders, we could easily envision an unknown species of prehistoric monster suddenly appearing from behind a nearby sea stack.

We hiked at a greatly stepped up pace into the second cove beyond Point of Arches because we were feeling tension about the tide coming in and trapping us against a sea cliff. Fortunately, we found our way back to Shi Shi just as the  waves were beginning to break onto the rocks on the upper beach. If you are fortunate enough to be able to visit Shi Shi Beach, make time to explore the ancient sea coves below Point of Arches.

Have you seen my other blog, Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy?

SHI SHI BEACH HEADLAND at POINT of ARCHES

The huge cave in the above photo is a familiar and welcome site at Shi Shi Beach...it's the sign that you've reached Point of Arches, the southern headland of Shi Shi Beach. Note the smooth light gray sand. It's the smoothest sand I've seen at a Pacific beach. What's even better is that there are no tire tracks in this sand like there are at so many other public Washington State beaches further to the south. You can reach Shi Shi beach only by way of a three-mile trail. Shi Shi is considered by many to be the most primitive beach on the West Coast of the U.S. When you see my next post, you'll see how primitive it looks in the coves to the south of Point of Arches. When you're here you feel like you've stepped into an ancient epoch.

The photos would have been more impressive were it not for the cloudy skies that day. A sunny day at Shi Shi is hard to beat. At least we didn't get any liquid sunshine on our trip to Point of Arches.

This view from the southern opening of the cave reveals that it's larger than it appears to be, and that it's more of a tunnel than a cave. Just to the right of the opening you will see my sister, Brenda Williamson. The image of my sister gives you a perspective of the size of the cave. How was it formed? The most obvious explanation would be wave action. If it was created by wave action, it would be a true demonstration of the power of breaking waves over eons of time.

You have to time your trips to Point of Arches. If you're some distance south of Point of Arches and you're trying to get back to Shi Shi and the tide is coming in, you could be in serious trouble. Some have been pinned by the waves against the rock cliffs and drowned.  Long beach hikes in this area require careful planning because of the tide.

Have you seen my other blog? Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy

EXPLORING the TIDEPOOLS of POINT of ARCHES

Can you guess what the above image is? You normally wouldn't see these creatures in this form. They are even less recognizable because we were at the tide pools on a cloudy day. Both of these images are very monochromatic for that reason. 

These are sea anemones. The name "anemone" even made the "Most Beautiful Words in the English Language" list. Normally you see anemones as beautiful flower-like creatures in an underwater setting. The above images show the anemones as they appear in their shrunk-down state when the water has receded from the tidepool.

Because of the cloudy skies, the full array of color is absent in the above tide pool image, but if you look carefully you can see that the anemones are turquoise in color. I hope we have sunny skies for our future treks to Point of Arches.

Have you seen my other blog, Bron Smith's Flights of Fantasy?

THE TIDEPOOLS of POINT of ARCHES

As part of our trek to Shi Shi Beach, we spent the day exploring the tide pools at Point of Arches. It's well worth the 2.3 mile hike to the south end of Shi Shi Beach, especially on a warm, sunny day. Star fish at Point of Arches come in a variety of decorator colors...a tribute to the endless variety of nature.

Mussels grow by the millions at Point of Arches. There were areas, like the photo above, that were a virtual carpet of mussels.

Have you seen my other blog,  Flights of Fantasy?