DUNGENESS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Two paths lead from the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge parking lot, high on a bluff, to the five mile long spit where a lighthouse beckons. It is a working lighthouse, and a great beach hike. we took the primitive path through the woods which is rainforest in nature.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say the woods are being eaten up by rot, mosses and fungi of one sort or another.

And, we see beauty in the process.

The forest is heavy, dark with sunlight streaking through in places. You feel like you are alone in the bower of bushes and trees brushing and closing in all sides.

Then, from an overlook, you get a magnified view of  the lighthouse at the end of the spit with a day full of sun, blue water and sky.

Down onto the beach, there isn’t much to see but driftwood for miles. Huge tree roots and smooth washed branches, along with a few gulls and the never ending tidal laps.

Like kids, we played while enjoying our luck to be outside walking a sand spit rather than sitting in front of a television or worrying about the bad news it injects into your life daily.

Many of the trees have roots and we pondered where did they come from? Is this yellow cedar?

Jim drew a heart in the sand…

“It’s been a long time since I did something like that,” he said.

Our goal was this upright piece of driftwood. Who would take the time to stand up a tall heavy dead tree like that, we asked ourselves.

The upright drift wood, didn’t drift here. The tree was still attached to the ground like the surrounding stumps, a sentinel of what the area may have looked like with a forest closer to the water at one time in the distant past.

A popular pastime for some people is to stack stones into cairns, or build shelters from the driftwood.

I climbed up the grassy embankment and the lighthouse is still just a small bubble on the horizon.

And a look back from whence we came, the tall bluff. We walked about a mile on the beach.

Then returned to civilization for lunch at the golf course in beautiful Dungeness, figuring since there is a dungeness festival coming up we could find some good crab. I had the lightest, tastiest crab cakes at Stimmies, but there chowder left a lot to be desired. It is always an adventure.  From there to the Organic Farm Store for produce and home to read and relax.

Check out this sunset. It was predicted to rain, but didn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

A RAINY DAY AT FORT WORDEN STATE PARK

Fort Worden has two campgrounds and we chose the beach area. These trees were silhouetted against a cloudy sky.

It is easy to see which way the wind blows. Rain was in the forecast. We set up camp and decided to walk to the two science museums on the grounds.

On the way, we stopped at this little free library.  We just turned in bags of books at our last campground, so I had none to trade. We continued to the science museums and both were closed. They begin their winter hours after Labor Day. We got caught in the rain and had to run for the motorhome. Our wet clothes were set to dry while we had dinner.

The storm lasted about an hour and we took the opportunity to walk the beach. A distant light house beckoned. In places we had to climb over rocks to escape the incoming tide.

We talked to two women from Pullman, WA. who were gathering beach shells and glass in the surf. We peeked into their buckets and admired their pretties.  They wore simple sweatshirts during weather I found brutally cold with wind enough to knock you over.  I met a fellow from my part of Michigan who wore a simple long-sleeved shirt and remarked at how nice the weather is here. I told him I’d never leave California for Michigan despite my roots.

After we’d passed them, one woman came back and offered to share some of her beach glass with me. Wasn’t that sweet? I declined since we have jars of beach stones and glass from other beaches we’ve visited, particularly the Glass Beach in California that was once a dump.

Besides, the beach was strewn with rocks and and shells at the tide line.

Close to the lighthouse, someone spent time balancing rocks called cairns. Most make it five stones high. Some go six and seven.

I put together a seven, then the rock toppled and I couldn’t retrieve it, so I settled for a six.

The lighthouse was built in 1913, one hundred one years old. So important in their time. No visitors.

Past the lighthouse, we got up on the breakwater and walked.

Driftwood, sometimes whole trees, enough to build a house

It ages so beautifully.

We watched six fishermen with fly rods where the breakwater began to peter out.

We met an honest fisherman. He said he is going for fish and chips at a local restaurant.

Wives waiting on the beach with their blue-eyed Australian Shepherd. They said the salmon season is just starting and only a certain kind of salmon can be taken. They were unsure, but think that if it is a king salmon, they have to throw it back. They can take silvers.

We returned to the motor home just before the second storm hit. It rocked the motorhome, threatened to tear off the vents and our closed awning, and blew and rattled everything that moved along with heavy rains. I stowed our ground rug under the motorhome because the wind was folding it and moving it from its appointed spot. We have yet to check and see if we still have a rug.