Dungeness Spit (Lighthouse in next post)

This is the Dungeness Spit.  It is the longest Spit in the US.  A Spit is a long, sand bar, peninsula jutting out into the ocean.  The post we did a few days ago of “Ediz Hook,” in our new town of Port Angeles, is also a Spit but they call it a Hook for some reason.  Anyway, we hiked out over 5 and a half miles to the Lighthouse just one way!  Don’t worry, the Lighthouse will be in the next post.  We took this excursion as the last day of Teri’s Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!  In order to do the hike out to the Lighthouse you have leave just before low tide or risk being stranded!  11 plus miles round trip isn’t all that bad on flat ground or really even on hilly ground but it was a lot harder in the sand.  It took some adjusting to the new foot pains!  The weather held out for us as well and we had full sun all day, although it was still cold being out on the water.  The Spit is a protected wildlife refuge and had so much driftwood it was amazing!  I love taking pictures of driftwood but I held back on the posting to spare everyone!

As an added bonus I have linked all of the pictures in this blog post and the Lighthouse post to my Flickr page so they can be viewed larger and with a dark background!!!  Just click on the pic and enjoy!

-Chris

View from on the ridge before hiking down to the beach.

View of Mt. Baker on the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If you look closely you can see the Spit onthe horizon below the mountains and just below Baker is the Lighthouse.

My favorite driftwood picture from this trip!  Click on this one for sure.

Teri wrote in the sand.  Might be hard to see in this pic.  It reads ‘Dungeness Spit 2-20-11’

This is a bench with a large buoy as you approach the Lighthouse.

Very cool driftwood shelter someone built and left about a mile into the hike!

I don’t know what these stumps were from, I have to assume they were man made and the Sea claimed them back.  Maybe an old dock?   Also the ocean has pushed some large stones between the stumps and they are just hanging out there.  In the background you can see the lighthouse as we approached. It was still deceptively far away!

~ by tirello on March 4, 2011.