Lost in the Fog at Roads End -- minus tide edition 8/2

[pdxgene]

I rolled out of here about 6a this morning for the dash to Lincoln City and Roads End Beach for one of the last big minus tide days of the season... Cover shot of inside of one of the caves that's inaccessible without a minus tide..


Just after I got there about 730 or so for the receding tide. Low tide was about 9a but it's a bit over a mile up the beach and I had lots to do...


The minus tide opens up the natural wonders around the north of the headland..


The Thumb above off in the distance.. We'll see it from the north side later..


Someone entering the cave that I'm lurking in the darkness in the back of without a clue I was in there.. Good thing he didn't scare easily..


Life on cave walls..




Back outside..


A brief heron series..


Bye...


Sea stars -- not many and not very healthy looking. There used to be tons of them. I was only able to find a couple small clusters that'll be along in a bit..


Tidepool colors..


The Thumb from where you can very rarely see it and even at the lowest tides you'll have to go thru at least knee deep water. But my feet got soaked early so by this point it really didn't matter anymore. I always have dry shoes in the car..


A couple guys fishing to take advantage of the conditions..


Another trackless (well until I ruined it..) cave to peek into..


Again, since I was wet, why not wade in for the better viewpoints..


This mussel looks like it has a mouthful of guacamole...


I've seen blue bioluminescence before but this looks orange..


This looks like some sort of anemone. I've never seen one white before. There was only one and I got pretty wet before finally dodging the waves (more unsuccessfully than not) and getting this on about the fifth attempt..


Urchins..


Chitons..


Some type of orange fungus on the walls..


Blue bioluminescence. There has been a lot more of it on previous trips..


Sea-stars..


With chitons.. A few years ago it would be common to see hundreds of them. Very few today.. These were the best two looking little groups..


Urchins with chitons in the rocks behind them. Chitons were all over the place..


One brief peek at a full sun..


Anenomes. It's amazing how many colors there are of them..




Tidepool mini-fish..


Here comes the fog..


Last look at the tidepools.. Or much of anything...


And into the fog..




There are people all over the place but I couldn't see or hear any of them..




If I didn't know the little creek bed meant time to turn up to the parking lot there's no way I would have seen it. I'd be shocked if at least a few people didn't blow on by it. Once the tide comes in it won't matter but for a while... As I changed shoes someone waited patiently for my parking spot. The lot was packed full by 1030. As I came home there was an almost uninterrupted flow of traffic heading west. Coming home later they should be backed up from that one stupid light in Dundee by midafternoon.
Album and slideshow here http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/RoadsEndBeach15
One more decent one at 930a tomorrow if you have the day off and nothing to do. Time needs to be adjusted for different points along the coast but that should be a ballpark figure for anywhere from Newport north. It's easy to check online.

[walrus]

How delightful! Brings back memories of childhood adventures in the tidepools at South Cove - once we found an octopus guarding her eggs!

[sprengers4jc]

Wow, had no idea what a minus tide even was but I know it's beautiful from your photos! Also, love the 'random guy walking into a cave I'm hiding in' pic. Very X Files-ish.

[pdxgene]

Wow, had no idea what a minus tide even was but I know it's beautiful from your photos! Also, love the 'random guy walking into a cave I'm hiding in' pic. Very X Files-ish.

Thanx! It's just the way tides are measured (Wikipedia can probably explain it much more coherently than I can) . The minus tides are the lowest ones and occur most frequently in late spring thru mid summer. So they are somewhat limited and then need to be at the right time of day for when you can be there.
Though I talked to someone today that said those caves are really cool with a headlamp at a midnight minus tide. Different things crawling around. One of these days I'll have to stay over there and check that out. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do that by myself..

[Guy]

Great TR Gene, bookmarked for future use .

[Peder]

Each of your visits to that low tide beach moves it up my wish list! Now that I have recently done the Thumb, I should be ready for your beach and tidepools!

I am surprised you did not try to scare the living daylights out of the guy entering your cave!

[pdxgene]

Hey, thanx Guy , Peder..
It does have a couple nice advantages other tidepool areas don't. The mile+ walk up the beach keeps the crowds down. Most people that park at Roads End tend to head south on the beach or just hangout within a couple hundred yds. of the lot.. There are generally no marine mammals around (i've never seen one) so there are no off limits type areas. You are free to wander unsupervised. And the caves and rocks add a little bonus to it.

Hey Peder, I only do that to my friends... Hmmm, maybe that's why I'm hiking alone an awful lot...

[pdxgene]

How delightful! Brings back memories of childhood adventures in the tidepools at South Cove - once we found an octopus guarding her eggs!

That's pretty cool when that happens. The tidepools change over the years but a couple years ago I found an octopus in two consecutive trips out there. A different one each year. When I sent the photo down to Oregon St. Parks to see if they knew what it was the person answering had never seen one in all the years they had been there. I was lucky enough to see, and get pretty good pictures of, one twice.