January 2018
Olympic Peninsula
I’ve been going out to the particular stretch of ocean on the Olympic Peninsula for so long I’m starting to notice changes there. Or maybe it’s because I’ved slowed down, having grown more creaky, and have the leisure and patience to pause and look. Or perhaps it’s my interest in getting a better understanding of the big picture that’s tuned my attention. Whatever the reasons, I’ve discovered that the power of the Pacific Ocean can rearrange the configuration of beaches, not only in geologic time but from one winter to the next.
There are several distinctive big driftwood logs that have shifted positions, either to elsewhere on the beach or rotated into a different direction. Others have shifted more subtly, but perceptibly.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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Take for example the behemoth Big Log that has rested out front on First Beach since some ginormous storm washed it up onto this beach next to the Quillayute River back in early 2010. I keep expecting it to wash away in another big storm and have been so happy to see it still there when I return each winter.
This year it seemed to me it had moved a bit. Wouldn’t be surprising, considering that a major storm had just come through pounding 35’ waves onto this beach, washing debris inland right under the cabins and necessitating the evacuation of parts of town, the Quileute Nation village of La Push.
I looked back at some photos from previous years for comparison. I discovered two differences in the position of this log. And that’s not counting the sand around it, and some sawing the locals have been doing using the thin end as a source of firewood.
January 2014
That longest piece of root extending upward from the rootwad (gull perched there) isn’t the only part that has rotated to the right compared to earlier years. You may also be able to see that the longest branch remaining on the trunk is vertical in earlier years, but slanted rightward today. Makes it not such a good handhold for kids running up onto the rootwad between waves.
The other change in position is where it is pointed, sighting along the trunk. While the photos aren’t taken from exactly the same position, I think they’re close enough to show that in the earlier years, Big Log was more parallel to the ocean. The rootwad is lined up pretty far inland from the end of Quateata headland, in the background. If you look at this year’s picture at the top of the page, the rootwad is lined up with the end of Quateata head.
That means most likely the rootwad is holding tight in the sand while the lighter, thinner, near end has rotated inland. The whole log is at more of an angle to the edge of the ocean.
January 2013
Quantity of driftwood
The accumulation of driftwood also varies quite a lot from one year to the next. These logs are heavy, entangled in each other and embedded in the sand, but when the ocean rises high enough, any size wood will float. Winter storm surges are when all of that happens. (Safety tip: standing on driftwood that is actively floating is a really stupid thing to do. Just ask someone who lost balance doing that one time, crashing down, cracking ribs (me).)
The end of the trail out to Second Beach sometimes has very little driftwood to climb over to get out onto the beach:
This year there was a whole lot of driftwood at the same spot. We’re looking northward in this view as compared to southward in the 2014 photo, but it’s the same spot. When I was younger, I’d have run along these, jumping from one to the next. These days I am extremely fearful of falling, with my spine problem and osteoporosis, so I had to crawl across this pile of driftwood on hands and knees. Slippery too. I was pretty stove in after the long walk and this crawling, with the hike through the woods still to go. I took a long nap back at the cabin!
Oh, to have the bones, quickness and flexibility of a kid! sigh
There are other changes I noted at the beaches, including a cave and a river. If I get organized, I can share what’s been happening about those too, in a later Bucket.
What changes are you seeing in your natural neighborhood these days — through the day, seasonal, over years?
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