pixels, light and hot wax

Well, okay, not a flash mob really.  But this Saturday (March 28th) there will be a super-low tide (aka a “minus tide”) at 12:50 at the Edmonds Beaches, and I’m extrapolating that timing should be quite similar for Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, which is just south of Edmonds. I will be taking my little girls for a beach expedition and hopefully tidepooling, and am throwing open the invitation to everyone else I know.   If your Saturday is booked, there will be an even lower minus tide on Sunday at 1:30 pm.

The most salient facts:

• Richmond Beach Saltwater Park is well-reputed as a good tidepooling beach; on today’s scouting I found a starfish, anemones, and lots of barnacles. In the summer, you can visit the beach with an expert on hand courtesy the Seattle Aquarium’s Beach Naturalist program.
• The tide comes in fast at this beach, so we will be arriving an hour earlier, and planning on finishing up the poking around by the waterline section of our trip at about the same time or before  the nadir of the tide, hoping to avoid getting unnecessarily wet as the tide comes in.
• Park at the lowest parking lot for best beach access, or halfway down if you want to spend your time at the playground and/or checking out the cool new public art sundial (“Reflex Solaris”, just dedicated last week). Even from the lowest parking lot, it is a bit of a walk to the beach (bridge over the train tracks), and of course beach walking is somewhat strenuous, so keep your kids’ energy limits in mind.
• There is an excellent introduction to Tide Pool Etiquette at  The Boy’s Almanac that parents should probably read beforehand to help the littles with; we would prefer that no sea creatures be harmed in this excursion! (Also, I suspect our finds will not be as spectacular as in their post; it’s not quite the same kind of beach.)
• The beach is good exploring in both directions, but for children I recommend turning left (south) once you cross the bridge; the rocks to the north tend to be fist-size and larger, which is more difficult to walk on, especially for little feet. To the south, they run a little fist-size and smaller, and there are more sandy stretches and actual tide “pools.”   In fact, with toddlers, I would recommend Edmonds’ Marina Beach instead, which is mostly sand once you get past the driftwood and gravel at the top of the beach, and which is closer to the parking lot.
• If looking for sea creatures at low tide isn’t your thing, there is also a lot of excellent driftwood to climb on, and low tide means a big expanse of beach

I recommend bringing:

• extra socks and shoes for everybody.
• layers of clothing; the breeze can be cold, but the hiking will warm you up.
• a digital camera, preferably with a macro (usually designated with a little flower) function so you can take closeup pictures of the cool smelly stuff your kids find to take home — and then leave the smelly stuff itself on the beach.
• easy to carry & snacks in case you run out of energy and still have the length of the beach to hike back. (trail mix, granola bars, etc.)

We will be there if it is sunny, cloudy, or sprinkling (real rain = time to wimp out, because breaking your ankle on slippery rocks isn’t fun.)

A couple of shots from today to whet your appetite:

Starfish

Starfish in Context (north beach, with big rocks)

I’m hoping over the summer to work through a lot of the suggestions on the Washington Trail Associations “Families Go Hiking” guide for Puget Sound.

Why is this post on my art blog and not my LJ?  Because going to the beach is one of my best sources for inspiration, whether it is just the centering provided by the crashing of the waves, or the visual challenge of making a compelling composition from the subtle tone variations of the rocks. And of course, I’m nutty for anemones.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Inspirations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.