- A beachfront cabin with indoor plumbing and actual beds. One camping trip with a shared family tent was enough for this summer! With the length of the drive, we needed a more assured quality of sleep than a community tent on uneven ground could provide.
- It's close to Cape Flattery.
- It's close to Shi Shi Beach.
Shi Shi Beach!! The beach of my dreams! We camped at Shi Shi four years ago with little two year old Rose and four year old Jay. It was very nearly a complete disaster, and we left a day early and didn't get to see the entire beach. In spite of our past difficulties in the place, I have been dreaming of Shi Shi ever since. Our original plan this time around was to hike the 2 miles to Shi Shi Beach with the kids and spend the day exploring the 2.5 miles of beach there. The reality was that our cabin was on a very similar beach three miles north of Shi Shi, and to kids a beach is a beach. Plus, two miles out is also two miles back, and that on top of a day of beach playing seemed like a recipe for disaster with kids in tow. So on our first night in our Hobuck Beach cabin, we learned from our past adventures, reigned in our thirst for adventure, and called off our family Shi Shi hike. Then a new idea started blooming: I could RUN Shi Shi! The idea took hold and I was convinced.
Wednesday morning around 7:30am, on our first full day at the beach, I strapped on my hydration belt, said adios to Jeff and the kids, gave Jeff a rough mileage/run time max (7.5 miles out max, 15 miles total max, or about 2.5 hours), and headed out at a steady trot down Tsoo-Yess Beach Road in the misty gray coastal morning. For the first couple of miles, I wrestled with guilt/longing to do this outing as a whole family, but then I lost myself in the beauty and exhilaration of the place and allowed myself revel in the experience and enjoy it completely.
The briny sea air was invigorating and I was hardly ever out of earshot of the rushing waves. In a short 3 miles on the quiet tree lined Tsoo-Yess Beach road, I was at the Shi Shi Beach trailhead. I was giddy--almost like a cartoon villain rubbing his hands together, saying "at last!" and chuckling maniacally. Minus the evil-maniac element, that's how I felt when I saw the sign for the trail! We hiked that trail four years ago under less than ideal circumstances, and I have been wanting to go back ever since. And I did! I made it down the rough, muddy trail and arrived at the glorious, pristine, misty beach. When we were there four years ago, we only made it less than halfway down the beach, so I felt wild and free, running unfettered along the shoreline on packed sand just above the waves, the entire 2.5 miles down the beach to the Point of the Arches. Laaa! Those giant sea stacks and caves were awesome. I stopped at explored around for about 20 or 30 minutes, admiring towering rocks, dark shallow caves, and tide pools, all while the sun broke through the mist behind me and the waves met the shore in front of me. The place was indescribable, so naturally I took plenty of pictures.
A view of Hobuck Beach, with campers and cabins on the right by the trees. The Canadian wildfires blocked the blue from the sky and tinted the sun's rays.
So excited!
Living it up, dodging roots and jumping on and off of boardwalks on the Shi Shi trail.
These boardwalks were surprisingly difficult to run on--uneven, with random wobbly sections. I about biffed it while attempting a selfie.
Orange (wildfire smoke-tinted) sunlight snuck through and painted some trees.
I was expecting worse, but the last mile of the trail was still sloppy enough.
I made it through the mud with minimal shoe splatter, but it was slow going. I think this was more of a hiking trail than a running trail--more time is needed to pick a route through the mud than running speeds allow for (even slow running).
Aha! The final descent down to Shi Shi Beach. Handy helpful ropes are strung down the side of the steep hill. Who needs those popular Spartan races with their manufactured obstacles when there's a trail full of natural obstacles?
Ah, our campsite of yore. We hung towels on that convenient sideways growing tree.
It's been four years since I sat on this log at this campsite! Sweet sweet homecoming, haha.
Shi Shi Beach, looking north.
Looking south--those rocks on the horizon were my destination: the Point of the Arches.
Giddy again.
"I've never felt so alive!"
Getting closer...
On the other side of that obscuring mist.
Pacific on my right, evergreens on my left: I love this place!
I made it! Like all big objects, the sea stacks were harder to see up close.
A creepy ocean cave. I thought of it as a mermaid's grotto. It was bigger than it looks--I walked straight inside without bumping my head! Inside the cave was completely silent: the sound of the surf was cut off by the thick rock walls. I found the silence eerie.
I'm no expert, but I think the tide was about half in, so I couldn't explore all of the rocks without taking off my running shoes. I was on a time limit and I also did not want to risk getting gritty sand between my toes for the return run (sand=blisters!) so I kept my shoes on and admired what I could from afar.
The sun cleared the tops of the trees and filtered through the wildfire haze to turn the mist yellow.
I still couldn't believe I was actually THERE!
I could stare at this barnacled-mussel-crusted rock for hours. The more you look, the more there is to see.
Next time I'm wearing sandals and wading in the water to check out more of the rocks.
Attempt #1 at a timer photo: since the entire area gets covered with water at high tide, there were not loose rocks to prop my phone up on for a picture. I had to lean it between barnacles on a rock, and it ended up falling almost all the way into the water. I stuck with boring selfies after that.
Tree growing on top of a rock.
I watched the sun start to touch each rock and light them up. Magical. I didn't want to leave!
One final risky attempt at barnacle-balancing the phone. Whew, it worked. That seaweed is slippery though!
Tide pools: one of my true loves. Beautiful, even without fat purple sea stars.
This crevice really gave me the willies--the rush of the water was silenced when I walked in between the thick rocks. When I started imagining the tide coming in and filling the whole place with strong water crashing against the rocks, I got out of there, even though the tide was ebbing and I was not in any danger. Respect the ocean--a lesson I have learned many times.
Whale bones? They were covered in stinky blubber crawling with nasty flies. But that is one big rib cage...or spinal column.
As I was leaving, I stuck my phone in the sand, leaning against a piece of kelp and tried briefly to get a running picture with mixed results.
After exploring the Point of the Arches, I felt the need to head back, even though I wanted to stay longer. I didn't want to stop for too much time and lose my momentum/stiffen up on such a lengthy run. Plus I didn't want Jeff to worry. It turns out that the Point of the Arches was exactly 7.5 miles from our cabin! Perfect, but also FAR. I survived wading through the muddy sections of trail a little less gracefully on the way back, but still made it through with minimal mud caking.
Goodbye, Point of the Arches! I hope to return and visit when there aren't any wildfire leftovers blanketing the sky.
This was an interesting section to "run" (hop) through.
When I was on the warped log boardwalk section of the trail, TWO striped garter snakes slithered across the boards right at my feet! I stopped and stared in strangled fascination. I hate snakes (even harmless ones) and felt jumpy for the last section of the trail before it ended at Tsoo-Yess Beach Road.
Trees! Orange sunlight!
Tsoo Yess Beach Road. Speed limit: 25 mph, with long sections of 15 mph. Very quiet.
I jogged along in the warm sun on Tsoo Yess Beach Road, vaguely aware that I was well over my max time limit that I told Jeff and hoping that he wasn't too worried. I had been gone for over three hours (nearly 45 minutes longer than I said I'd be) when Hobuck Beach came into view. I saw a silver van pulling out of the drive in the distance. It was Jeff and the kids, coming to look for me! Right when my watch hit 15 miles, I stopped and climbed gratefully (and stiffly) into the van. Jeff said he thought one of two things had happened: I had found Shi Shi Beach and stopped to enjoy it or a wild animal had eaten me.
When we camped at Shi Shi Beach four years ago, two year old Rose's little pink croc was washed away in the tide. We found it a mile down the beach the next morning--miraculously. What are the odds that a different tiny pink croc would be lost four years later while I was jogging past a roadside stump? When I saw this pink croc, the memory came flooding back. Someone had clearly found this one on the beach and left it on a stump by the road in case its owner came back in search of it. What is with this particular coastline and regurgitating lost pink croc shoes? I was highly amused.
My shoes, post-run: not bad for traversing such a notoriously muddy trail twice. [notice the little pink croc in the background--Amber now fits Rose's old shoes from 4 years ago.]
It was a lot of miles to run on a variety of tough surfaces: pavement, dusty gravel, brown dirt, creaky lumpy boardwalks, rolling roots, squelchy mud, wet mud, deep sand, packed wet sand. Then do it all again in reverse for another 7.5 miles. I was tired! But my inner zen was humming and I was glowing with the high that only Mother Nature can give. What a dreamy morning!
Hands down, my favorite run of the year.
1 comment:
Clearly you were BORN to run here.
Does Forks HS need a French teacher?
Post a Comment