A great blue heron perched behind our camp in Florence, Oregon appeared to have lost its neck. Had it stuck it out too far?
Peggy and I have visited Florence, Oregon a number of times over the years. It was a short 2 1/2 hour drive from our home above the Upper Applegate River in Southern Oregon. We spent the majority of our visits camped at the Siuslaw Marina. The prices are reasonable, the people friendly, and Old Town, with its good restaurants and fun shops, is within easy walking distance. But there’s more…
The Oregon Dunes are just south of the town. The Devil’s Churn, Thor’s Well, the Sea Lion Caves, and the Heceta Head Lighthouse are just a few miles north. There are even some good kayaking opportunities nearby. In other words, there was alway plenty to keep us amused doing things we love to do.
One thing about our stays at the Marina— we had never been able to obtain a site on the Siuslaw River. They fill up fast. People sign up for them months in advance. This time, because Peggy and I were staying for two weeks, I made our reservations early and we scored a spot on the river. Most of the photos today are taken from our ‘backyard.’ We will be featuring five birds: Great blue herons will provide lessons on preening, a great white egret will share its secrets on fishing, a not so impeccable seagull will teach how to get down and dirty, Canada geese will demonstrate the best way to keep track of kids, and, finally, cormorants will hold a large meeting doing who knows what.
An evening view from our backyard on the Siuslaw River. The old pylons out in the river speak to how busy it was in the past. Once, they held up various structures; now have become a primary perching place for birds.Water birds put a lot of effort into preening. It’s their way of preparing for a busy day of work. This great blue Heron demonstrates just how much effort. Check out its neck. Linda Blair from the 1973 movie, The Exorcist, would not have been able to manage this trick.It’s important to dress appropriately for whatever activity you have planned for the day. The heron here plans on spending a lot of time in the water so he is waterproofing his feathers. He stores oil in his uropygial gland at the base of his tail feathers for the job. “His what?” you ask. At least I did. So I looked it up and learned it’s a bilobed sebaceous gland. Consider yourself informed.Having gathered oil, in his beak, the heron proceeds to oil his feathers. Preening involves more, however. Cleaning, positioning and interlocking feathers are all involved. Parasites are kept under control as well.In terms of parasites, sometimes a good scratch is in order. (It was getting dark when I took this photo and a couple of the others, so clarity was a little fuzzy.)Having finished preening, “Who’s the pretty bird?”Next up, a great egret demonstrates how to catch and eat a fish.First, you have to get off your perch.You will need to get wet. Step off into the water.You may have to stick your neck out, take a chance.Focus is critical.There will come a moment when it is time to strike. A second’s hesitancy may cost dinner. (I hesitated for a second and missed the photo.)Success. Next up, you eat what you catch. This isn’t catch and release. Good news, you don’t have to clean or cook the fish. This is sushi at its wiggly rawest.You do have to position the fish so you can swallow it. It is unlikely someone will be around to perform a Heimlich maneuver. Down the hatch. Gulp.One of the more serene photos of California gulls we have ever taken. Notice how clean it is, how pristine. That is about to change.Our serene friend caught a crab on the shore just behind our trailer. Pieces of the crab were broken off to eat.It was down and dirty work!There is no doubt that Canada Geese have perfected the art of taking their kids from place to place. Peggy caught the young geese traveling in a neat line between their mother and father.While the babies are easy to keep in line, the teenagers require a few more directions. Grin. Check out the extended necks of the adults. It isn’t hard to imagine a bit of scolding.Maybe mom and dad were urging them to do some independent foraging.One of the youngsters found some tasty seaweed that a sibling was eager to share. I’m pretty sure that the message was “Go get your own.”Peggy noticed a gathering of cormorants up the river from our backyard and we tried to figure out what they were up to. It seemed that the adults were up on the pylons while the younger and smaller cormorants were swimming beneath them.Soon a large flock of cormorants had gathered. Again, the majority of the flock in the water were immature birds based on their light color. I thought the dead tree in the background made a nice backdrop.
I learned an interesting fact about cormorant intelligence when I was trying to figure out why they were gathering. The can count to seven: “Chinese cormorants on the Li River are allowed to keep every eighth fish they catch. Otherwise they “stubbornly refuse to move again until their neck ring is loosened.”
And now for a few miscellaneous photos.
This great blue heron was fishing.We liked the way it was outlined by an old wooden structure.Most days a lone seal would rest on what may have been a cross beam to a pier at one time.Looking west from our campsite, we noticed this interesting cloud formation one evening. Peggy identified it as a flock of flying dragons.Another evening we watched a sunset out to the west, which will wrap up today’s post. Next we will take you out to the Devil’s Churn near Yachats, Oregon where the pounding ocean turns foam into a thick, brown froth with the texture of whipped cream.
There is more to the unusual beauty of Bandon By The Sea than sea stacks. This photo is from one of the beach walks we took while we were visiting 3 weeks ago is an example.Graceful wooden walkways down to the beach add to the beauty. A fine mist was working its way inland.There were two sets of stairs down to the beach, this one that started near the Face Rock parking lot and the one above that was located to the north . The driftwood next to the stairs here had been tossed up by winter storms over time.Down on the beach the waves had carried in a large tree; its roots are shown here.We found this blog-worthy piece of driftwood on our walk into Devil’s Kitchen when we were heading out to explore the tide pools.This rattlesnake grass gets its name from the seed pods that resemble the rattles on a rattlesnake.I liked the contrast here of the dried grass and green shrubs caught in the evening sunset.Peggy enjoyed the flower gardens that grew on the sea stacks.And, of course, Bandon had its share of seals lollygagging on the rocks off its shore.As we have seen on our trip up the coast, offshore sea stacks/islands play host to myriads of nesting sea birds. This island, like most of them along the coast, is a marine sanctuary. Most of the dots are Brandt cormorants…But murres were also nesting on the rock in their usual numbers. When they are packed together, each murre occupies around six square inches to raise its chick. I read that the parents come back to their same six inches year after year.An information board along the walkway above the beach included a photo of one of the Murre’s oddly shaped, colorful eggs. Each egg has a different pattern that its parents can recognize. When the chick reaches 3-4 weeks of age (even before it can fly), it’s time to say goodbye to its tiny space. Dad flies down to the ocean and calls to the chick while mom hangs out above. (I wonder if she gives her baby the boot.) Anyway, baby takes the leap and flutters down to dad, who then takes it out to the ocean to feed it fish until it can fly and hunt for its own fish.When we were exploring tide pools at Devil’s Kitchen in Bandon, Peggy noticed a pair of pelagic cormorants nesting in the rocks above us. Unlike the Brandt cormorants shown above, they seem happy hanging out on their own.Whether they were curious about us or nervous, they watched us closely. Note their crests.We also spotted the first pigeon guillemots we had seen on our trip.Check out those red feet! When the male courts the female, it walks in circles around her showing them off. “Oh, what bright shiny red big feet you have,” is the hoped for response.I was trying to catch a photo of an oyster catcher when a wave hit the rock. This was the result.This was the sea stack where we checked out tide pools and saw the pelagic cormorants, pigeon guillemots and the oyster catcher. Note the California gull way up on top. Peg and I noticed that there would often be one perched on the highest point of the sea stacks.On the way back to our truck a crow feasted on a giant sand flea.Here’s what it looks like. When I was a kid we used to visit my grandparents down on the central coast of California. My grandfather loved surf fishing and would put my brother Marshall and me to work capturing these guys. Fish go crazy for them. When a wave retreats you look for small holes with bubbles coming out and dig! As I recall, our grandfather gave us a nickel for each one of the delicacies….. a fortune!I’ll wrap up our Bandon posts with a photo of a fishing boat that was docked at the marina. Next up, our “backyard”, on the Siuslaw River in Florence, Oregon. Question: Who wins the windblown look?
The tide was rolling in, erasing an elaborate labyrinth in the sand when we arrived at Face Rock Overlook in Bandon. Had we arrived earlier we could have walked from one end of the art work to the other.
It’s really hard to choose a favorite small town along the Pacific Coast from Central California to Olympic National Park in Washington. The competition is ferocious. Of the ones we have stayed at or visited on this trip, our favorites so far are Point Reyes Station, Mendocino, and Bandon. We could happily live in any of them. Each of these towns are easily walkable, have unique personalities, and feature incredible seashore scenery and wildlife. I might add that both Point Reyes Station and Mendocino have top of the line independent bookstores, a factor that Peggy and I always consider. While Bandon has a small bookstore with a good selection for its size, it is the town’s dedication to public art that stands out. We will be featuring four different aspects today.
Denny Dyke began creating his sand sculptures on the sand near Face Rock over 10 years ago. Peggy and I remember seeing one during one of our first visits to Bandon after we moved to Oregon. Now his project has been adopted and supported by the whole community of Bandon.No two designs are ever the same. This year’s theme is love.We watched as a woman added a heart and filled it with colorful small pebbles.Natural rock forms are worked into the designs.Here the design, now being washed away by the tide, had been worked around what I called the Lion’s Head.Peggy, who can never resist a labyrinth, was walking what had been left of it by the tide. Walks are actually scheduled on days when the labyrinths are created between the time they are finished and before the tide washes them away. The website for Circles in the Sand lists the dates and times and suggests that the walk takes about 20 minutes.A final view looking south along the shore. In ways, creating art to be washed away by the tides reminds me of Burning Man where beautiful works of art are created and then burned.While not part of labyrinth, we thought that this whale that Peggy and I found on the beach made of driftwood and small rocks deserved to be included.I featured this tufted puffin in my last post. It was created from trash gathered along the beaches of Oregon by the organization Washed Ashore. The stated purpose of the organization is: “To build and exhibit aesthetically powerful art to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways and to spark positive changes in consumer habits.” It has done an amazing job.A close up of the puffin’s head. Washed Ashore sculptures created in Bandon can now be found in locations across the US and around the world, each with its powerful message about trash thrown into the ocean.While we found the puffin along the trail that follows the coast near Face Rock, this fish by Washed Ashore was located down at Bandon’s Marina right next to the town.A frontal view of the fish…And a look into its mouth.Bandon’s Marina also featured several impressive carved wood sculptures such as this octopus…A whale…Pelicans…Fish…A crab…And a seahorse…We also liked this rock snail.While we were visiting, volunteers were busily hanging art for Bandon’s 21st Annual Boardwalk Art Show. Anyone from kids to professional artists was invited to submit a painting. Liking weird (I won’t blame Peggy here) I selected four appropriately strange paintings for today’s post.If you have had much experience with seagulls, it isn’t hard to imagine them pulling a stunt like this. Our next post will wrap-up Bandon with a focus on scenery, seals and sea birds.A creek meanders out to the Pacific Ocean at Devil’s Kitchen, Bandon, Oregon.
“Curt, you have to see this,” Peggy called, tearing me away from taking a photo of 3452 mussels. It was a human shaped sea star nestled in among anemones, mussels, and goose neck barnacles. There was no doubt about it. She had found the Star of Devil’s Kitchen!
Peggy and I love to futz around in tide pools. There are always amazing things to see and unending drama. It’s a who eats who world. So far on our trip up the coast we had missed the opportunity. We were feeling deprived. Low tides had either been too early or too late. Bandon’s was perfect. We headed out to Devil’s Kitchen, a spot we had visited before. I had forgotten how the area got its name and did a search. Lo and behold, Google sent me straight to an earlier blog of mine. So I am going to quote the ‘expert,’ me: “It has to do with the cold waters of the ocean bringing a rich brew of nutrients to the surface that are eaten by plankton, that are eaten by small fish, that are eaten by bigger fish, that are eaten by still bigger fish, that are eaten by seals, sea lions, otters, and a whole host of seabirds, not to mention people and anything else that can sink their teeth into them.” Welcome to the feast.
This large sea stack was our goal. Look close and you can see Peggy checking out sea stars. People usually call them star fish, but, as my guide to Pacific Coast Tide Pools notes: They are not fish. They are echinoderms. Others include sea urchins and sand dollars.She was was taking a photo to show the abundance of sea life that lives between low and high tides when she spotted the Star.There were no lack of sea stars to be found at the base of the sea stack!While there are several types of sea stars, the most common are ochre sea stars that come in colors ranging from purplish to orange. Living up to their ‘most common’ designation, they are what we found at Devil’s Kitchen.Sea stars come with five arms. Its eyes, which sense light and dark, are located on the tips of its arms. The light colored spot close to the very top is where the star pulls in water to operate its vascular system that pretty much runs everything.One of which is its hundreds to thousands of little tube ‘feet.’ Here it has attached them to a mussel, its favorite food, in hopes of prying the two half shells apart with its arms. It isn’t easy, given that mussels don’t like to be eaten and can close their shells really tight. It may take hours. When the sea star succeeds, it extends its stomach inside out through its mouth into the opening where it digests the mussel and then pulls its stomach back in through its mouth. Dinner.Another example. You can see the tube feet extended here, pulling on the shell. Once the feet are stuck to the surface of the shell, they remain stuck. A sea star will eat around 40 mussels a year.They are not an endangered species…Whatever the creature is down on the left hand corner, it seems to be sliming a mussel. The mussel in the middle is hosting several barnacles. Home sweet home.A large acorn barnacle dominates this photo. The tide is out and its door is closed to seal water in to protect it from drying out until the tide comes back in. Then it throws open its door and six pairs of feathery appendages pop out and start waving around to gather food. Barnacles attach to almost any convenient surface including rocks, mussels, wharves, and ships. And it seems, sticks. The strong cement they use will still be holding the barnacle in place long after it has died.These are goose neck barnacles so named because early Europeans thought they looked like geese. Modern day Europeans regard them as a delicacy, a plate full can cost upward to 100 Euros, over 100 hundred dollars in the US. They were generously found throughout the mussels. I couldn’t help but wonder how many thousands of dollars worth. It was illegal to gather them at the park, however.This is a giant green sea anemone. It is a cnidarian, meaning it has stinging tentacles, like jelly fish and corals. Small creatures beware! Paralyzed by the stingers, the prey is swept into the anemones mouth which is located in the middle of the tentacles. The mouth comes with a two-for-one. it also serves as the anus. Hmmm. Peggy noted another interesting thing about the anemone. A crab was hiding under it! Note the distinctive colorful legs that are tucked in. When Peggy first spotted the legs sticking out, she thought “big spider” and aimed the camera. Of course, they disappeared!Some sea anemones had covered themselves in small rocks…A close up. Note how tight it has shut down its opening to protect it from drying out.These little fellows are aggregating anemones. Basically, they are exact copies of each other. They stretch out until they split in half creating two anemones which then also split forming large colonies. The colony continues to grow until it runs out of food or space. Or until it runs into another colony. Then they go to war with specialized tentacles full of nematocysts (stingers). To avoid conflict, they sometimes declare a neutral zone! That’s it for today. Next post: We will focus in on some of Brandon’s unique art.This puffin was created from trash gathered off of the local beaches.
One thing common about most of our stops along the coast on our tour of the Pacific Coast from Big Sur to Olympic National Park has been sea stacks, rocks and islands that were once part of headlands but are now part of the ocean. The most famous is Face Rock in Bandon, Oregon.In case you don’t see the face, Peggy provides a clue. Face Rock comes with a Native American story about its origins. A native princess went swimming in the ocean carrying a basket with a cat and kittens. She was grabbed by a ferocious sea monster who tried to force her to look at him so she would be his slave forever. She resisted by looking up at the sky, where she remains today. Her cat and kittens can be seen off to the right.I like the creation story. Geologists have another. Sea stacks are created by the constant pounding of the waves against rock, at first creating a cave. Over time, usually millions of years, the cave enlarges until it becomes an arch.Such as this arch, which is still connected to the mainland in Mendocino. (I used this photo a few weeks ago on our Mendocino Headlands Post.) Eventually the arch will fall down and leave behind a new sea stack. We found it interesting that we could see a speck of light in the middle of the arch. Possibly a new sea stack will be created sooner rather than later.Peggy and I walked through a sea cave on the Bandon coast that will eventually create a new sea stack. This is a photo of Peggy.She took this photo from the other side of the cave looking out toward the ocean, which brings me to another point. Face Rock was not the only impressive sea stack off of the coast of Bandon. There were bunches.A closer view. The Fickle Finger of Fate, perhaps. (Those of you who are older may remember Rowan and Martin’s Fickle Finger of Fate Award that they gave out on their weekly TV show. For example, the US Congress got one.)Peggy and I promptly named this Sea Lion after the sea lions we saw posing along the Noyo River in Fort Bragg.You can see why.Another impressive sea stack. I’m thinking Man in the Moon at half phase.Group photo…We came back to the Face Rock Overlook to check out the sea stacks as the sun set. This is the Cat and the Kittens. In case you can’t see them, neither can I. Several photographers were down on the beach hoping to catch a good sunset.This was the view looking south from the Face Rock Overview.A close-up.The sunset was also good for catching waves splash over rocks.Face Rock, backlit by the setting sun. In line with our ability to see creatures of all sorts in natural settings, Peggy found a pair of eyes staring back at her when she took a final sunset photo. That’s it for today. Next up we will feature our day of exploring tide pools in Bandon.Sea Stars were everywhere when we checked out the tide pools at Devil’s Kitchen in Bandon, Oregon.
When I see something like this rolled up fern head, I have no problem imagining Jurassic Park, Star Wars, or even ET. Parts of all of these movies were filmed in the National and State Redwood Parks of the far northwest coast of California. ET phoned home, the Ewoks celebrated into the night on Endor, and T-Rex stomped through the rainforest of Fern Canyon in search of two-legged morsels. To top it off, even Bigfoot has been sighted in the Redwoods. Several times.A carving of Bigfoot Jr. sat outside the Redwood Carving Gift Shop in the small town of Orick.As the fern head featured above unrolls , it seems even more ancient. In reality, the fern is ancient. It was one of the first plants on earth, dating back to as far as 430 million years ago.The last phase of unrolling. It looks even more primitive.
The six mile road into Fern Canyon from Highway 101, where Jurassic Park, The Lost World, was filmed, was about a mile from where Peggy and I were camped. We had to go! The first four miles or so of the road had not recovered from winter storms. In addition to being one lane, it was full of Jurassic-size potholes. Had we fallen in one, it would have devoured our pickup faster than T-rex.
Fortunately, the road became wider and flattened out when we reached the ocean. Heavy equipment was eliminating pot holes. Gold Bluffs was on our right…And the ocean, on our left, was pounding ashore.Some one had left this neat artwork on the beach. I doubt it was Big Foot.The road came to an end and we started our hike into Fern Canyon. A small herd of elk was resting in the tall grass just off the trail. Had we realized how difficult it would be for us to see elk up close in the park, we would have spent more time with the herd.This sign greeted us as we drove into the small Heart of the Redwoods RV Campground where we stayed. Can you blame us for assuming we would be seeing elk— like out our door!This person’s front yard, about two miles away from our camp, was what we imagined.We reached the beginning of Fern Canyon and thought, “Is this it?” Actually it wasn’t. We would have had to wade a mile up the canyon and we weren’t wearing the right shoes.We lost ‘our once in a blue moon’ opportunity to see dinosaurs. (We took this from our campground. I played a bit with the processing.)We did see lots of ferns, however. And giant clover.On the way back to Highway 101, a trail sign invited us to see Trillium Falls. We like trilliums and we like waterfalls, so off we went. The falls were small, but still, technically, falls. We felt it was an appropriately Jurassic-like scene.Complete with ferns! But no trilliums.We found this one elsewhere in the Park. Trilliums earn their name by having three petals, three sepals, and three leaves.They are whiter when young and become more pink as they age.
AND A WRAP-UP
Peggy and I finished off our visit with a trip up to the Klamath Beach Road on the northern end of the Park. We had visited the beach on a previous trip to the Redwoods and found it covered with colorful small pieces of redwood that had been carved by the ocean. While the road was theoretical paved, it was equally rough to the road into Fern Canyon. Unfortunately, the access road was closed. The beach had been taken over by seals! We drove up to an overlook.
You’ve seen a number of seals so far from our journey up the coast. I’m sure you will see more. These, like the rest, seemed well fed and not particularly interested in physical exercise! That’s reserved for when they are in the water.What was different about these seals was their sheer numbers.California brown pelicans and seagulls backed up the seals.And Peggy spotted a whale out in the ocean, making its way north to Alaska.An old cemetery was next to where we were parked. Rhododendrons were budding in it.And had a unique beauty. With that, I’ll close our posts on the Redwoods. The fabulous sea stacks of Bandon, Oregon, are waiting.Brandon’s famous Face Rock outlined by the setting sun.
Strange creatures lurk among the redwoods, which is no surprise for forests with giant trees that date back 2500 years. Maybe even more so for trees whose ancestors were around in the age of dinosaurs. The dark eyes, nose with a nose, and gaping mouth suggest this might be a creature of your nightmares. Do you ever gaze at the clouds and see animals or dragons or weird people? How about rocks or driftwood. Peggy and I let our imaginations run wild and see all sorts of fantastical creatures. Looking at this tree, it’s easy to imagine beings lurking among the burls. How many can you see? I’m sure that ancient peoples who wandered among these groves had no problems spotting otherworldly animals and incorporating them into their world. While it may look like this tree is sick, burls are actually a woody material full of bud tissue that serves as storage compartments for the genetic code of the parent tree. Young trees can actually sprout from the burls.Peggy and I found a number of creatures on various redwoods, such as this diving dragon. Following are a few of our other favorites.Scary fellow with wart on his nose.Devilish? Note the baby redwoods growing out of its head and making up its hair.Have trunk, will travel.Tree climber. Only 350 feet more to go.Reach out and grab someone. Not a hugger!Daliesque dragon with horns and a melting nose.We think it’s friendly. Maybe…..Smiling turtle?You name it. Next up, given all of these creatures, we will visit Fern Canyon where parts of Jurassic Park 2 were filmed in the redwoods.We didn’t find T-Rex, but we did find Number 42 with a tracking collar.
That redwood trees are tall and old is not news. One of the best known of the giants in Redwood National Park (appropriately if unimaginatively named Big Tree) stands at 286 feet tall and is 1500 years old. It is neither the tallest nor the oldest among the redwoods that stretch along the Pacific Coast from Central California to Southern Oregon, however. The tallest reaches a hundred feet higher into the sky, the oldest a thousand years further back in time. Circumference is another way of measuring these behemoths. Big Tree stretches out to over 74 feet. It would take 15 Peggys to reach around it.A view looking up Big Tree.
To truly get a feeling for the size of the redwoods, one needs to go for a walk among the magnificent trees. Words and photos simply can’t capture the awe one feels. Living in Northern California and Southern Oregon, which we did before moving to Virginia, Peggy and I have been privileged to visit the Redwood National Park several times. When we were planning out our 3-month trip up the Pacific Coast, there was no question that we would visit again.
One of the easiest ways to provide perspective on size is to put a person in the photo. I volunteered.A well worn trail worked its way up between these two. I was not the first to stand there and pose.Given the size of the redwoods, one would expect to have roots digging deep into the ground to hold them up. It isn’t the case. But what they lack in depth, they make up in width, as Peggy demonstrates here. It isn’t unusual to find the base of Redwood trees burned out while the tree continues to stand and live. The spaces created have an unusual name: Goose pens. They were so large that early pioneers could fence them in and use them for animals such as geese.Peggy and I often joke about getting crooks in our necks because we spend so much time looking up when we walk through the various groves.I always like the perspective gained from shooting up from the base of a large tree.Or three.One of the most impressive walks one can take in Redwood National Park is the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail. Among America’s First Ladies, Lady Bird stood out for her environmental concern and was a strong advocate for saving the redwoods.This plaque was located in the heart of the grove. Saving the redwoods was a long, difficult process that involved the dedication of numerous people starting in the early 1900s with the formation of the Save the Redwoods League. Before 1850, there were approximately 2 million acres of coastal redwoods. California’s gold rush brought hundreds of thousands of people to California and a huge demand for lumber to build homes and commercial structures. It is a demand that has continued down through the decades. Today, only 5 percent of the old-growth coastal redwood forest remains. I confess, I am something of a tree hugger myself. This early photo from the Erickson Collection at Humboldt State College shows old growth redwoods being hauled out of the forest to the Excelsior Lumber Company in Eureka, California where they were to be sawed into lumber.In addition to saving the redwoods for present and future generations, considerable work is also being done throughout the National Park to repair damage done by the logging activities of the past. Peggy and I hiked down the Ah-Pah Trail off the Newton Drury Scenic Highway which talks about and demonstrates some of the efforts being made. This woodsy trail was once a logging road. That’s it for today. In our next post we will feature some of the strange ‘creatures’ that hang out on the trees and are worthy of a fantasy novel. There’s no preview photo this time. It will be a surprise.
The definition of ‘having your nose up in the air’ according to Merriam-Webster is to behave in a way that shows one thinks one is better than others. In other words, being snooty. We couldn’t help but think of this sea lion posturing as being an excellent example— right down to the puffed out chest! Or, maybe they were warning us to keep our distance, given that they were more or less lying on top of each other when we approached. The big males seemed to be saying to each other, “I’ve got this.” “No. I’ve got it.” “No. I’ve got it…” Mating season is right around the corner. It’s important to establish who is top dog/sea lion.
I’ve approached our trip up the Pacific Coast much differently that I usually plan our road trips. I made reservations more than a day in advance. In fact I made most of them three months ahead. There were three reasons: One, Peggy and I wanted to stay in places for one to two weeks. Two, Pacific Coast campgrounds fill up quickly, especially as summer approaches. Three, Peggy has never been totally happy with my day ahead—or day of— approach to reservations. (The first time we took a year off to travel in 1999/2000, I only made one.)
My choice in Fort Bragg was a little campground on the Noyo River, slightly off the main tourist route.
The Dolphin Isle RV Campground and Marina is a couple of miles upriver from Fort Bragg’s main marina. The staff was super friendly, the price reasonable, and, most important, we were able to back our small trailer, Seraphina, up to the river.We had great views from our campsite. Upriver.Down river. The pilings may have held up a dock at one time.Now they hold up birds. This heron was standing on top of one, preening as we set up camp. Peggy grabbed her camera and caught it with a feather in its bill. Is the other one a feather in his cap?We set up our camp chairs behind Serafina so we could watch the wildlife, such as this mallard, float by.I thought his tail feathers were worthy of a shot.A Canada goose came by scarfing up sea weed.Cormorants had a favorite log just above our campsite, where they perched, dried out their wings, and preened.Several harbor seals swam by as they made their way up and down the Noyo River. This one checked us out. We also saw river otters
The river seemed the perfect place for us to kayak. Peggy was eager to get out. In fact, it was one of the reasons I selected Dolphin Isle for our camp. We pulled our inflatable Innova out of the truck’s bed and inflated it. We had kayaked with it for a quarter of a century in such diverse waters as Alaska, Baja, the Boundary Waters and the Everglades. For the first time ever, it refused to hold air. An internal seam had given out. We decided the time had come to retire Big Green and purchase a new kayak, which is something we have been talking about.
Peggy, sitting in the front, paddles our two-person, inflatable Innova kayak on Little Squaw Lake, a few miles from our home in Oregon.
Peggy still wanted to explore the Noyo River, however. She discovered that a small, electric boat operated out of the Dolphin Isle Marina and took people on short tours of the marina and river. She signed us up immediately.
Peggy and Captain Dan in his eco-friendly electric boat, the Noyo Star. She found Dan at WWW.NoyoHarborTours.com. Dan still fishes for a living as well as running his tour boat. He told us he had been providing fish to the same Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco for over 20 years.As part of the trip, Dan took us on a tour of the Fort Bragg Marina that featured larger fishing boats like this trawler that uses a large net to drag the bottom. Several of the larger boats head to Alaska in the summer for fishing.A crab boat was stacked with the traps that are used to catch crabs. The traps are baited with things crabs like to eat (fish and chicken work, the smellier the better),and dropped off in the water attached to a bouy. Every few hours, the traps are checked for any catch.A variety of smaller fishing boats were also in the marina. The Zhivago is Dan’s boat. How can you not like someone who names his boat Zhivago!The Coast Guard also had a couple of boats stationed at the marina, as they do at most of the fishing ports up and down the coast.The real stars of the tour were the sea lions, snoozing in the sun. They apparently liked each other, given how they are snuggled up together.We had to look twice at this. Sea lion number one was lying down. Sea lion number two had placed its tail on top of sea lion number one. Sea lion number three rested its head on the tail.As mentioned above, several sea lions raised their heads and assumed the ‘snooty’ position on our arrival. It appeared that several of them were going though various stages of molting. Either that or Mr. Snooty had on low rider pants.50/50 on this guy’s head.And the award for the snootiest goes to: This fellow for looking down its nose at us.Nothing snooty about this threesome.“Permission to come aboard, Sir!” Quite the discussion was going on here. The big fellow in the water had jumped off the walkway at our approach. There was a question whether the answer would be “yes.” After all, he had abandoned ship. The other sea lions look on in interest. They may be females who have a stake in the results.As we left, Captain Dan gave a quick toot on his horn. Three heads popped up in response.A brown pelican checked us out…And was joined by a sea gull.Major pilings held up such things as fish processing buildings, restaurants and even three cabins for rent.They also provided a squiggly, colorful, reflection shot.Close to the end of our tour with Captain Dan, the entrance to the Dolphin Isle Marina can be seen center right. This also brings us to the end of this post and our Fort Bragg blogs. Next up…Some really big trees: The magnificent redwoods.
It was once a dump, now it is one of the world’s most famous glass beaches. Located next to Fort Bragg, it was like a gold mine to those who collected these fragments from past bottles and other types of glass.
I first learned about people’s passion for collecting sea glass from our daughter-in-law, Cammie. Our son Tony was stationed on Kodiak Island as a helicopter pilot for the Coast Guard and Cammie had taken up producing sea glass jewelry to sell. Peggy and I were invited to join a family outing to collect sea glass on a local beach when we were visiting. It was like going on a treasure hunt. The glass had once hosted a variety of alcoholic drinks in a local bar that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Then the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake struck. It was over six times as powerful as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The devastation caused by the shockwaves and tsunami was massive— and it included the Kodiak bar, washing it into the ocean. Ever since, the Pacific Ocean has been turning the liquor, wine, and beer bottles into sea glass.
A USGS photo of the waterfront of Kodiak after the 1964 Alaska earthquake.Cammie turned the sea glass into attractive jewelry that she marketed on Facebook and in local shops.The combination of rocks, shells and glass reworked by the ocean and wet down by the retreating tide was quite photogenic. Cammie told us that the colored glass was less common and worth more than the clear glass— the more rare, the more valuable.This rock, with what I think are quartz intrusions, also demanded a photo. It was taken above the tide line and illustrates how important the water was in bringing out the color of the glass rocks and shells.
The story behind the glass beach at Fort Bragg isn’t nearly as dramatic as the beach in Kodiak. The beach was the site of the community’s official dump until 1967. The attitude up until then in Fort Bragg and numerous other coastal towns had been why worry about burying your garbage when the ocean will wash it out to sea. Growing awareness about the potential harm from the practice by the community plus pressure from the California Water Resources Board led to closing the dump in 1967. Degradable garbage degraded, non-degradable garbage such as automobiles and refrigerators was hauled away, and the glass, already on its way to becoming sea glass, was left to become more sea-glassy.
There were more things to see at Glass Beach in addition to the sea glass. For one, there was an army of ground squirrels.Mainly, they were busy chowing down on the buds of ice plant flowers.Peggy found one sunbathing on a whale sculpture, however. I think it said something about providing perspective. I think the local hawks had a different perspective. Lunch.We didn’t see any hawks, but we did see this raven parked on a “no parking” sign.This island was located off of Glass Beach. it is a part of the 20,000 offshore rocks and islands that make up the California Coastal Monument that stretches out over the 1100 mile California coast and provides valuable protection to birds and mammals.This harbor seal was nursing its baby on one of the rocks.This nondescript little building caught our attention. We stopped at an information sign to find out what it was. Turns out it was a dynamite bunker dating back to the early 1900s when the dynamite was used to blast a railroad tunnel. It was located far away from anything, just in case. The info sign also informed us that the men who used the dynamite to blow up things were known as powder monkeys. Apparently the nitroglycerin in the dynamite led the powder monkeys to become a bit deranged— not a desirable quality for someone handling explosives, I’d think.The town of Mendocino is one of my all-time favorite coastal communities, for a number of reasons. For one, it has an incredible bookstore that comes complete with a bookstore cat. Another is its gorgeous headlands of which this arch is part.A close up.A scenic inlet lays off to the right of the arch.A female seal was lying on her back in the foreground, apparently enjoying herself while her baby hovered near by.The inlet on the left featuring the island. And a rock.And on the right, the mainland. Same rock.Peggy noted that the rock came with its own sea cave/budding arch.We followed the trail to the right of the arch where the waves were pounding in.And crashing ashore.While we were admiring the wave action, a flock of over 20 or so California brown pelicans flew in from the left.Passed by us.And flew on up the coast.As we continued northward along the Headlands, we were greeted by more islands.One island was packed with nesting birds, cormorants and what looked like small penguins!A closer look, and TheSibley Guide to Birds told me they were Murres. Murres lay their eggs directly on the rocks. The fact that they are more rounded on one end and more pointed on the other means they will roll in circles if nudged instead of falling off of the rock! Isn’t nature grand.A final look at the island the cormorants and murres had chosen for their nests and we were on our way back to Fort Bragg and our campsite along the Noyo River. The Noyo will be our next and final post on the Fort Bragg/Medocino area.A short tour of the Noyo River by Captain Dan took us down to the Fort Bragg Marina where we found this, and many other sea lions.
Wandering through Time and Place 