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| Foggy morning at Point of the Arches |
Overnight the tide had come in high, leaving behind the sort of litter you actually want to see on the beach; kelp, shells and ocean-smoothed stones. We slowly hiked down the beach doing a bit of beachcombing on our way - Cupcake found a few shells to add to her fledgling collection at home and I picked up a few of the nearly perfect white stones that I covet. We noted the various campsites set up along the beach and decided we had the best camp of all because our tents weren't filled with sand (or hopping with humongous sand fleas). We watched seagull parents walk their adolescent chicks down to the water for a lesson in feeding. It was fun watching them race in and out with the tide, searching for delectable morsels and testing their newfound flight skills.
The previous night had been a rough one for Cupcake, due in part to the absolute dark in the woods and in part to the loud roar of the surf. She, I learned, is afraid of the dark and has frequent nightmares. We talked, the two of us, about the nature of waves. We discussed the 'whys' and 'hows' of tides and waves, and about the safety of our campsite in the trees. All along the way she tested the water-repellency of her hiking boots, which, I'd like to point out are only effective up to the ankle. At that point, we tested the insulating quality of good wool socks. This we learned when crossing Petroleum Creek - the only fresh water source on the beach.
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| Cupcake braves the sea cave |
1.5 miles later we made it to the Point of Arches where we explored a sea cave and more tidal pools. The anemones seemed bigger at this end, the starfish were more numerous, and the rocks were covered in huge clusters of mussels. The plant life in the pools differed as well. We carefully made our way over a few of the rocks, doing our best not to step on exposed anemones. The tide, however, was coming in pretty fast so we didn't venture out very far towards the arches. They will be there to explore on another visit when the low tide is more significant.
On the hike back towards our camp I took off Cupcake's boots, draped them around her neck and pulled up her pant legs. I wanted her to be able to enjoy walking in the water without me constantly scolding her to get out of it. The trip, after all, was supposed to fun. Once she had her shoes off, she walked a little in the water but then realized that digging her toes in the sand was just as fun. She liked the way it felt on the bottoms of her feet, so would go down to the water, then play in the wet sand a bit, then goof around in the dry sand, and so on. It brought back memories of my own childhood, playing on the beach with my mother and grandmother.
Surfers had hit the water while we were savoring our time on the beach. We sat and watched them for awhile, resting and enjoying each other's company. Cupcake, ever observant, was laughing at the seals, who would pop their heads up and watch the surfers. We tried to guess what the seals were thinking... "What are those silly humans doing now?", "When are they going home?", "Ha ha. Look at him fall."
While out on the beach we met up with some other campers who'd had better luck scavenging dry firewood and they offered to bring some up to our camp. By the time we returned from the stinky potty, they had a small flame going for us, which Kevin grew into a wonderfully warming (and feet/sock drying) fire. We fixed s'mores, then heated water for our dinners. The wind was starting to kick up a bit, blowing in a bit of a chill, so we were very thankful for Kevin's wonderful fire, and for the kindness of the young couple that supplied us the dry wood.
The clouds never really cleared up, so there was no sunset. As Cupcake very astutely pointed out, you can't have a sunset if you don't have a sun. We got changed into our warm fleece jammies and crawled into our sleeping bags, while Evie and Kevin enjoyed some time alone by the fire. She and I talked a bit more about waves, and I read a few pages to her until she fell asleep. I'm happy to say, there were no fears about the waves coming to get us, no issues with the darkness, critters in the woods, or the sounds of the wind in the trees. There was just one happy little girl sleeping soundly with her Nana.
Hike 45 of 52
Distance: 3 miles
Elevation Gain: 0 feet
Highest Elevation Achieved: 0 feet (unless you count climbing on rocks!)
On the hike back towards our camp I took off Cupcake's boots, draped them around her neck and pulled up her pant legs. I wanted her to be able to enjoy walking in the water without me constantly scolding her to get out of it. The trip, after all, was supposed to fun. Once she had her shoes off, she walked a little in the water but then realized that digging her toes in the sand was just as fun. She liked the way it felt on the bottoms of her feet, so would go down to the water, then play in the wet sand a bit, then goof around in the dry sand, and so on. It brought back memories of my own childhood, playing on the beach with my mother and grandmother. Surfers had hit the water while we were savoring our time on the beach. We sat and watched them for awhile, resting and enjoying each other's company. Cupcake, ever observant, was laughing at the seals, who would pop their heads up and watch the surfers. We tried to guess what the seals were thinking... "What are those silly humans doing now?", "When are they going home?", "Ha ha. Look at him fall."
While out on the beach we met up with some other campers who'd had better luck scavenging dry firewood and they offered to bring some up to our camp. By the time we returned from the stinky potty, they had a small flame going for us, which Kevin grew into a wonderfully warming (and feet/sock drying) fire. We fixed s'mores, then heated water for our dinners. The wind was starting to kick up a bit, blowing in a bit of a chill, so we were very thankful for Kevin's wonderful fire, and for the kindness of the young couple that supplied us the dry wood. The clouds never really cleared up, so there was no sunset. As Cupcake very astutely pointed out, you can't have a sunset if you don't have a sun. We got changed into our warm fleece jammies and crawled into our sleeping bags, while Evie and Kevin enjoyed some time alone by the fire. She and I talked a bit more about waves, and I read a few pages to her until she fell asleep. I'm happy to say, there were no fears about the waves coming to get us, no issues with the darkness, critters in the woods, or the sounds of the wind in the trees. There was just one happy little girl sleeping soundly with her Nana.
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| My lil hiker, Cupcake |
Distance: 3 miles
Elevation Gain: 0 feet
Highest Elevation Achieved: 0 feet (unless you count climbing on rocks!)
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