9/11/2017 - Shelter Cove

Monday - Our plan today didn't quite work out so we went to plan B again.  We thought we would hike some trails in the redwoods, but Joe didn't sleep well so we decided to just drive up to the Visitor Center and get maps, then maybe go for a drive.  We headed out, our first stop at Living Chimney Tree.  Although the tree was burned out over 100 years ago, it is still alive.  From the inside, you can look up to the top and see daylight.

The inside has been cleaned out.  It is as big as a room.

And I met the resident bear on the way back to the car.

We stopped for breakfast in Miranda, which is when we figured out we were going south instead of north, where the Visitor Center was.  So we decided to continue south and make the drive to Shelter Cove, which was on our agenda for this stop anyway.  We had been told there was a lot of seaglass on the beach there.  Along this road, we came upon a gold nugget!  I have to show this picture to Collins because this is bigger than the one he found in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

Our drive took us maybe 10-15 miles through the Avenue of the Giants, then a couple miles on Hwy 101, then another road took us to Shelter Cove.  This road was only 21 miles, but it probably took an hour.  Very curvy, up and down a coastal mountain, some road work and one-lane areas.  We pulled over just before heading down the mountain and I took a photo, but you can hardly tell where the ocean stops and the sky begins.

We reached the town and drove down to the Mel Coombs Park, where there was a statue, a lighthouse, tide pools, and lots of seals and sea lions barking on the rocks.

We spent a little time here, checking out the tide pools, picking up pieces of shells, and getting closer to the seals and sea lions.  We believe there were harbor seals as well as California sea lions out on these rocks (and birds).

We clamored up the boulders, Joe more than me because I didn't have the right shoes on. 

 There are some little shells or snails attached to this boulder.

From here, we drove into town and found the Visitor Center, which is at an Inn.  She didn't know anything about seaglass beaches, but she gave us a little map she printed, a tidal chart, and sent us on our way.  We found our way to Black Sand beach, had a hard time figuring out how to get down to the water.  We ended up parking up high, walking down to the handicap parking lot, then hiking down the trail to the beach, where we trudged through very thick gravel to get to the water.  It was a pretty coastline, the sand was black, but we didn't see any seaglass, or even very many pretty rocks. And no agates. They were all just black.

A sleeper wave caught Joe so he had wet shorts and shoes.  We decided this could not be the beach we had been told about, so we didn't spend much time here.  We trudged our way back up to the parking lot.   We drove back into town and followed the coastline, checking out any outlooks we came upon.  But none of them had beaches -- they were just rocks.

 The waves made their own waterfalls as they drain off these rocks.

We stopped at Seal Rock, and could see the seals and sea lions out in the water.  They really work this coastline -- must be a lot of food along here for them. 

We decided to go find some lunch and see if anyone knew anything about seaglass here.  The lady at the deli only knew one other beach, by the boat ramp which we had driven down earlier, but she had never found any seaglass there.  But we drove back down there, right at high tide.  The waves came all the way to the cliff walls, so we gave up on that.  Maybe we just got some bad information to start with.  Everyone told us that the seaglass is at Ft. Bragg, which we had read about too. So we gave up on Shelter Cove, although it was a pretty little coastal town, and headed back our curvy road.  We got back to the 101, and found out our on-ramp was closed, so even that became difficult.  But we made it back, pretty worn out from our unsuccessful efforts.

But we made reservations at Ft. Bragg for our next stop.  One more shot at seaglass before we head inland on Friday.