Saturday, September 04, 2010

Westward a Bit (Road Day #4, continued)

(Visit, completed) Still Wednesday. We headed a little further west along the shore of the Strait, to Salt Creek. (See map in previous post. This is point E.)

Kelp bed at Salt Creek County Park, September 1, 2010. (Click for larger image.)

Some people at the bottom of the steps at the Crescent Bay end of the bluff were looking intently at Something. I asked the lady with the binoculars was she seeing whales. (Could conceivably be gray whales...) But no. Turned out to be black oyster-catchers, oh bless their bright red stabby beaks and ridiculous pink legs. That party of people left, so we settled in on the rocks, declared it our dining room, and shared our second sandwich. Another party of people stubbornly picked their way out towards Tongue Point even though the tidepools were nearly covered, and accidentally startled away the oyster-catchers, who flew off in a chorus of whistles. Later they flew back. Later still, a kingfisher.

The View from Our Dining Room: Crescent Bay (Click for larger image.)

From here I suffered a #tourguidefail. Should have taken us all the way along the Strait to Neah Bay, to the true Northwest Corner. But we gassed up (and bought sugar snacks) in Joyce, and headed up the Joyce-Piedmont Road to intersect the northeast shore of Lake Crescent. Carried on west along East Beach Road to where the Lyre River ever so gently drains out of the Lake and starts heading for the Strait. (Point F on map). Explored a little pullout/path and found ourselves Right There by the river's start.

Lyre River (Click for larger image.)
Lyre River Flowing Out of Lake Crescent (Click for larger image.)

It was remarkably idyllic and pleasing. Will add this spot to future guest itineraries.

1 comment:

Sky said...

we would enjoy traveling in this beauty! great photo ops.