Won't you join us?

Each of us has our reason. For me personally it's the photos. Not the ones I created but the ones I see on environmental websites. I'm sure you've seen them.

The turtle wearing a plastic six-pack ring that is girdling it's shell.

The dead bird - starved to death because it mistook colorful plastic bits as food.

Yeah, you know the photos.

I started volunteering with the Olympic Coast Cleanup back in 2000. Over the years I've gone to pick up marine debris by myself, with family, with friends (one all the way from Oklahoma) and other volunteers (one couple who was visiting from France and decided to join).

I collected trash from easy beaches to access to others requiring an overnight stay.

And I watched as more volunteers joined, more beaches were added and the coordinating group Washington CoastSavers develop from a small group of like-minded folks to an internationally recognized group with high ambitions to keeping our oceans and beaches clean of debris. They have reached beyond the one spring clean-up a year to three cleanups - Earth Day, July 5th and the International Coastal Cleanup.

It's not just the core group of committee members who have this dedication, but the army of volunteers who devote a day or two or three to pull debris off the beaches - our friends and family. Just last year, 1200 volunteers carried 19 tons of marine debris off Washington's beaches during the Earth Day cleanup.

We're about to do it again.

On April 23rd this year, 1000+ volunteers will again spend the day cleaning our states beaches. Will you join us?

Even before the 23rd cleanup, there is an opportunity to help CoastSavers by attending and Evening of Music, Art and Adventure on April 9th. There will be a surf rock band - The Echo Devils - providing the music, live and silent auctions and refreshments. I would love to see you there.

What will be your reason for helping?

Washington State Parks: Bottle Beach

Little Bottle Beach State Park. It holds so much in it's tiny package: history, scenery, wildlife. And it's all tucked away next to the highway along Grays Harbor. What's not to love?

On the site of Bottle Beach State Park once stood the community of Ocosta by the Sea - the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad was located here and a grand port had been in the plans. Hotels, churches, schools and industry sprung up in the area including a bottle company. But as it sometimes happens the railroad went somewhere else, the economy sunk and sediment along the shoreline made it difficult for large ships to moor. Sadly Ocosta by the Sea became no more.

As the town dwindled, nature came back. The marshes are filled with birds. Grays Harbor is one of the most important feeding areas for migratory shorebirds. Millions of birds have fed on invertebrates in the mud flats as they migrate north to their breeding grounds. It's estimated that about 20% of them can be found near Bottle Beach. Whew! That's quite a population for this little spec of land.

What about the scenery you ask? If the park is on 75 acres how much scenery can there be? And mud flats? Euw. But don't despair my landscape and scenery friends, the trail to the beach meanders through marshlands and you almost feel as if they could stretch forever. Grand mountain views? Who needs those when you have open skies and rugged land in front of you?

Continue to the beach where the skeleton of an old building remains. Skirt around the side to a wide open stretch of beach. When the tide is out, you can see the remnants of the pilings for the long docks that once stretched out into the bay creating wonderful lines towards the horizon. Walk out on the mud flats for ripples in the earth and almost hidden pockets of standing water. It's the feel of another world.

Bring your long lens for the birds and your imagination to take you back into yesteryear. This little park will not disappoint.

To get here drive highway 105 from Aberdeen along the south shore of Grays Harbor for approximately 15 miles. The parking lot is on the north side of the highway.

Washington Coastal Clean-up 2013

It's a soul-sucking mud. The type of mud that grabs hold and pulls every ounce of willpower to move away from you. It pulls at you, drags you. And if you are able to free yourself from its clenches, it will still pull something from you - like a boot.

This is the trail to one of the most beautiful wilderness beaches on the Washington Coast - Shi Shi Beach. Just south of Cape Flattery, the most northwesterly point of the contiguous United States. Two miles of beach (and more at low tide), sea stacks, sea stars and quiet encircled by thickly forested hills await the traveler.

But first you must get through the mud.

To be honest, the beauty of this pristine wilderness beach far outweighs the mud. Oh wait, did I say pristine? The only real drawback to the beach and many other beaches along Washington's coast is the marine debris. Tons of it washes up on the Washington coast every year, coming from different sources mostly marine industries, and not all of it intentionally dumped.

And every year just as the tides rise and deposit the debris in the driftwood, thousands of volunteers with Washington CoastSavers come to pull it of the beaches and away from causing harm. Volunteers have pulled off crab pots, rope, footballs, tires, even a jeep buried in the sand had been pulled off the beach. The worst is plastics and styrofoam. These break down into small bits and appear to be tasty morsels to birds and fish. They gorge themselves on these tasty looking treats only to starve when they can't digest it and are unable to eat real food.

It's a tough job. But one that volunteers, year after year come to haul trash off the beach. It's a job we never tire of as we know the debris will continue to wash ashore.

Our mission: to clean the beaches, save a few animals, become a part of the solution.

As we fill our sacks and haul them off the beaches we have a satisfied heart that we did SOMETHING.

And for those of us on Shi Shi, we must return with the bags back through that mud. That soul sucking mud, that we refuse to allow to tear us down.

The above image of False-Lily-of-the-Valley and Sword Fern was taken on the forested slopes encircling Shi Shi Beach.

Coastal Forest

Kalaloch Nature Trail, 4/26/08, 2 miles

A good way to get to know a new area, or even an familiar one, is to take a hike n the local nature trail. Of all the years I'd camped at Kalaloch, I had never explored this little loop in the woods.

The coastal forest is in all its glory along the trail, with large trees blocking most of the sky so that the sunlight is filtered through green boughs making the forest floor a kaleidoscope of greens. Moss clings to anything it can. Shrubs fight for space, sunlight and nutrients in the soil - enough of a fight that they will grow anywhere they can get a toe-hold including the trunks of dead and even living trees. Flowers and mushroom spot the ground with often vibrant colors and sometimes muted tones.

A coastal forest is a place of life and in the early spring it is a place to see life blossom exponentially in the moist and nutrient rich world.

Cleaning Up

Washington Beach Clean-up, 4/26/08

1,200 volunteers picking up 21 tons of trash and marine debris. That is what Earth Day means to me. A tradition I started 6 years ago saw this year a change in organizational leadership. Jan Klippert who had started the Beach Clean-up 10 years ago passed the torch to Northwest Interpretive Association and the other partnering organizations. As he passed his leadership flame on his own flame died out. We gave our respects to the man and his mission as we made our way along the beaches searching the driftwood for debris.

This year I was again joined by familiar faces - Michael, Kristi, Diane and Randy. And we added some new ones too - Kyle, Amanda, Chris, Jenny and their two little girls. South Beach in the Olympic National Park was our territory as it had been for the past couple of years and we casually walked down the beach before working through the maze of driftwood back to our cars.

Amanda was the first to score garbage gold as she called for help to pull out a 4'X3' piece of styrofoam wedged between some logs. The rest of the morning was filled with ropes and plastic, more styrofoam, a couple of shoes, a Japanese float, tire, life jacket, and the ubiquitous crabpot. Little Briana & Kaylee really got into the fun and ran from piece of trash to the next as if in a race to find the most garbage.

The morning was cloudless and it seemed to warm up quite a bit as we made our way back up the beach, but it was a day worth spending with friends and family. Jan died just a month prior to this latest incarnation of his dream. But his spirit seemed to be with us as so many volunteers gathered to make our home planet just a little bit cleaner.

The Wet Beach

Cape Disappointment, Spring Road Trip, 3/22/08

Olympia & I arrived at Cape Disappointment State Park just as the clouds started covering the sky from the horizon. I had been hoping to catch the last rays of day on the North Head Lighthouse. Tonight, that would not be. So upon arriving at the park I searched first for a suitable campsite and prepared for the possible precipitation.

Finding the perfect tent site was a bit tough - the stakes refused to go into the ground in my original spot so I instead moved the tent in between some trees. I might also be able to get a little extra protection from rain tucked in the trees as I was. But the tent was up and it was time to explore the beach.

Olympia's second favorite substance to run in is sand and she pulled against her leash as we made our way through the driftwood and dune grass. The beach was almost empty, so I let Olympia go to allow her the joy of running along in the sand. We made our way to the north end of the beach just below the lighthouse before heading back to camp, quietly rounding out our day.

The rain held off until after we were nicely tucked away in the tent. Although after a night of rain the trees didn't offer too much protection, my original tent placement would have placed me right in the middle of a puddle.

Spring Road Trip 2008

Another Spring and another road trip. I had planned to return to the Southwest and backpack through Bryce Canyon. But plans have a way of changing, so then came plans of exploring the Oregon Coast. But weather has a way of changing plans also. What I decided finally was a visit to some old Washington & Oregon favorites and few new sites as well. The best of the final plan was that I'd be able to travel with Olympia, my Yellow Lab mix who has been my companion for the past eight years - longer than my husband.

I started out at Mt St Helens then went to Cape Disappointment. From there, I traveled up the Columbia River Gorge for waterfalls and flowers. After a few days there, I continued east to the fabled Wallowa Mountains and the Zumwault Prairie. It was up to Palouse falls before heading home with one tired dog and several stories to tell. Tune in later for those fantastic stories and images.

Cleaning Up

Earth Day, April 21, 2007

Every year for Earth Day, I head out to the Washington Coast to help clean up the beaches. It's an event organized by lovers of the Washington Coast since 2000. I've taken part in the endeavor for 5 years now. I first went out by myself but gradually friends and family joined me (even a friend from Oklahoma joined us one year) and we've made it our "first" camping trip and good deed of the year. We've found that cleaning up the winter debris is a way for us to get a fresh start on our year.

I was joined this year by Michael & my sister as we once again picked our way through the beaches at Kalaloch in the Olympic National Park. However, there isn't a stretch of waterfront during this weekend that by now doesn't have a cleaning crew scouring over the drift logs and rocks. We spent a drizzly morning picking up rope, plastic, shoes, and bottles - we even found an industrial crab pot to drag off the beach (those things are damn heavy). In the afternoon we joined other volunteers for a BBQ at the campground. By now the drizzle had become more serious and it didn't take us too long to decide that heading home would be much warmer and drier.

You could be asking why it took so long to write this entry. I wanted to wait for the weekend's stats from the organizers. And here they are: 806 registered volunteers pulled 23 tons of debris off the Washington beaches. Among the debris were 14 crab pots and 2 refrigerators as well as tires, nets, buoys and 55 gallon drums. That's a lot of garbage, not easy to haul off the beaches. The volunteers, all of them - even the unregistered ones - deserve a standing ovation for their hard work.

It's a never ending job, cleaning Washington's beaches. Every year storms deposit more trash. Every weekend tourists leave something behind. I will be there next year. Will you join me?

Grayland Beach

2/24-25

Rain, Rain, go away. Come again another day. This childhood rhyme rattled itself through my thoughts Saturday morning as our romantic get way to the beach was washed away with the sand on my sneakers, which were outside getting soggier by the hour. I realize that some of my friends would think that being cooped up in a small beach cabin on a rainy day is entirely romantic. Not for me. Sitting there hour after hour watching the rain splatter against the windows, I began to stagnate. Frustration welled up inside me, as I knew the ocean and miles of beach were just over that ridge and me with no fisherman's rain gear to protect myself from the deluge. Michael sat over at the kitchen table quietly reading - he has no problem spending a day doing "nothing." I read a bit, wrote a bit, played some Sudoku, and finally put a puzzle together (except for one extra piece that didn't fit into the remaining two spots. To think I could have been snowshoeing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I did appreciate the time alone without distractions, the time spent with Michael, just being at the beach. But when Michael told me he had gotten the keys to his boss' cabin, i started imagining a wonderful late winter afternoon - mostly cloudy with a few showers. I imagined we'd arrive and stroll on the beach, then imagined waking up the next morning for a stroll on the beach followed by lunch and stroll on the beach. After dinner I thought we could take a stroll on the beach and then wildly though we could take a stroll on the beach the next morning before leaving.

What I got what a brisk walk with the dogs when we arrived, cut short when I got hit by a wave while kneeling to take a picture. A downpour on Saturday, that kept me in the car that morning as we explored our surroundings. A restless Saturday afternoon and hints of blue skies Sunday morning as we left for home. No, i didn't feel rested - i felt lethargic unable to think and not caring if i did.

I found out this weekend, that a sedentary weekend will not revitalize me or activate my mind. I fell most alive with my thoughts clear and cohesive as I'm out hiking in the woods, along the beach, or above treeline. As I'm out exerting myself to view the beauty surrounding me, my mind is exploring thoughts and ideas, but there is a connectedness between them, me, and my environs. I feel more centered in my world when I'm walking in my world not sitting away somewhere behind four walls and a roof (although very comforting during the storms).

But then, winter storm warnings were given throughout the Washington mountains that weekend and I wouldn't have been able to go snowshoeing. Might as well spend it in a little cabin at the beach.

Willapa Peninsula

1/13-1/15/07 SW Washington

I have fond memories of Long Beach Peninsula, spending time with my grandmother and cousins on this narrow spit of land that swings up the coast from the mouth of the Columbia. I had visited many times during the summers of my youth and found comfort there again after the death of a beloved uncle. This year I decided to share my lovely peninsula with a few of my fellow Mountaineer Photographers. The peninsula holds many opportunities for photographers, from sweeping ocean vistas to historic old homes and a few lighthouses thrown in for fun.

We rented yurts at the Cape Disappointment State Park for the weekend and arrived Saturday afternoon to a bitterly cold welcome – not from the park staff but from the temperature of the yurts. The yurts were advertised as being heated – however, there is only so much heated defense that can be produced by a small 1200 watt heater against a frigid cold winter the likes of which are rarely seen in the northwest. We quickly settled in and set out to explore our immediate environs, hoping the activity would keep us warmer. Our first stop was a Waikiki Beach to photograph the Cape Disappointment lighthouse atop the cliff. As we finished here, the light began fading although a few breaks could be seen with a slight orange color reflected in the wet sand. So, we gathered together for dinner in Ilwaco and a chilly night in our mausoleum-cold yurts.

It really doesn’t take too long for my sleeping bag to warm up and luckily Saturday night was no different. I woke up pre-dawn and comfortably changed into some warm clothes for my Sunday romp. Two of my compatriots and I had plans of heading to Ledbetter Wildlife Refuge at the tip of the peninsula for sunrise and what a beautiful sunrise it was. During the night, our cloud cover cleared off to reveal a star-filled night sky and for our interests that morning a bright yellow and orange sunrise over the bay. As the morning warmed, I walked along the beach with a myriad of seashells and birds in the surf and birds in the grass. I hadn’t been relaxed for several weeks and here my troubles seemed to melt away – at least something was melting. The water in the bay had begun to freeze and had washed ice chips ashore and built a little wave barricade between surf and shore.

After I rejoined my morning photo partners, we headed into Oysterville – a town I knew all too well. This is where Grandma had lived. Oysterville is a small town with wonderful old houses, a church filled with character and oyster shell lined streets. OK, they are now paved, but that’s how I remember them. We journeyed on to the local cemetery then sought out the windless kite flying festival in Long Beach. Yes, you read that right – windless kite flying. This was absolutely fascinating to watch. These kites are so light that just the tension on the cords is enough to keep the kite aloft. We ventured back down to Cape Disappointment to visit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and tour the North Head lighthouse before heading back into Ilwaco for a walk around the marina. It was decided that sunset at the North Head lighthouse would be the best place and we watched a orange and red sunset on a day that had been sparkling clear if not just a little chilly.

After dinner in Ilwaco, we all journeyed back to our yurts. However, my yurt had developed a beeping problem – the battery in the smoke detector died and the detector emitted an intermittent beep to let us know this fact. As we knew we’d never sleep with the noise, we packed up and headed to our other yurt across the way and four of us settled into a little warmer of a night – body heat really does help. Sunrise the next morning was admired along the Columbia River and after a short stroll on the beach, we were all ready to go home to warm up as best we could.

New Year's Eve

1/1/07 Olympic Coast

I can think of no better way to ring in a new year than snuggled in my tent beneath snow-covered mountains or tall stately trees. This year we welcomed 2007 by sleeping on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But first we made a little tour around the north end of the Olympic Peninsula.

We packed up the puppies Saturday and drove to Sequim, hoping to camp at the Dungeness Spit. Sadly, the campground is closed during the winter and we had to figure out our next plan as night was fast approaching. Kudos to the Washington State Park system as we can usually find a campground open - our Saturday night was spent overlooking Sequim Bay. We were beginning to regret our decision as most people crazy enough to camp in the dead of winter are at least intelligent enough to do it in campers, with generators. After 5 days of listening to our neighbor's generator during the last power outage, I was not thrilled about listening to our temporary neighbor's power source. By 10, though, the campground was silent except for the occasional wave lapping up against the rocks. Thank you temporary camping neighbor.

We awoke early the next morning to catch the possible sunrise on Hurricane Ridge. The road to the ridge is closed until dawn, but we were there waiting when the rangers opened the gate and we weere able to watch the sun make it's way across the sky, through the infrequent breaks in the clouds. The wind, blowing harsh and cold convinced us that a few hours on the ridge snowshoeing wouldn't be the best way to spend the morning. So we let the puppies play in the snow a bit and went on our way to Kalaloch.

It rained on and off on our drive out to the beach and sprinkled lightly on us as we set up camp. But dried up a bit as we walked along the beach watching the clam-diggers, many coming up the beach empty-handed. The rain came back as wee settled into our tent, the puppies curled up on our feet. A few of our neighbors whooped it up at midnight, but Michael & I just wished each other a happy new year then nestled back into our sleeping bags.

Happy New Year!