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.

Beachy Keen

Shi Shi Beach, 9/19/09-9/20/09, 8 miles, 50 elevation

Remoteness. Very few beaches in America offer this kind of remoteness. Yet even on a beautiful summer day Shi Shi Beach can be extremely crowded. Wait until after Labor Day when the crowds lessen and the sun highlights the sea stacks with a beautiful light.

I took a group of photographers out to the south end of the beach called Point of Arches at the end of September. I wanted to be there when the sun would pass through a certain arch. I had yet to capture this magical moment, so wanted another try. I began to worry as we drove out that we may not see the sun at all. But the clouds started to break up as we hiked the short trail out to the beach. The sun warmed our faces during our beach walk - the trail drops us off at the north end of the beach and it's another 2 miles to Point of Arches. We passed a few other campsites along the way. Point of Arches was empty - perfect.

Once we set up camp, we all separated to explore the beach, sea stacks and tide pools. We shared ideas and pointed out great photo ops finally pulling ourselves away from our activity once the sun was down & we were ready for dinner. A campfire was built and we sat around sharing stories & laughter. Interspersed with our stories moments of silence as we stopped to gaze at the stars above us, jewels in the night sky. A few campfires along the beach seemed to reflect the show in the sky.

The next morning, the air gleamed fresh. We quickly ate breakfast before grabbing our cameras to take advantage of the marvelous morning light. It was a chore to tear ourselves away to break camp and get to the north end of the beach before we lost the light. We made it though and got a few more pictures before heading back home.