Waxing Crescent Moon
High tide + deep sand + high humidity + heavy pack = hot, sweaty hiker. Today was warmer than usual and really muggy for our area, but I had promised myself that August 1 was my deadline for beginning to practice carrying a pack with some extra weight in it. I didn't mind very much during the hike, but I definitely feel a little fatigue sinking in now as the Sun begins to set. Other than that, it was another great day on Monterey Bay. I had never walked down to the beach access in Sand City before today, even though I had cruised by it countless times when bicycling on the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail. It's pretty cool!
I knew the tide would peak toward the end of my walk so it was no surprise that there was a whole lot of trudging going on. But trudging builds character, they say, so trudge I did for two and a half hours. There were gulls and cormorants and the occasional curlew, but only one solitary pelican. People were few and the ones I saw were quiet and shy. This seemed like a beach locals go to when they want a little solitude, at least on this particular Monday. Okay by me, I'm flexible.
There was quite a bit of beach glass here, almost all sort of a smoky white color, not the sort of colorful beach glass I am tempted to collect. The most unusual things were the scattered, bleached vertebrae and skull of what I was guessing to be a sea otter. It could have been a small seal, I suppose, but whatever it was, the bones had been separated and tossed here and there over a distance of a hundred meters or so. A few decomposing jellies were randomly beached along this stretch, too.
The beautiful dunes and some complex clouds took my mind off all the dead stuff after a while until it was time to turn around and head back to Sand City. Out and back hikes are not my favorites usually, but I am enjoying this summer's beach explorations two times over! I just wish that some of those clouds would produce some much-needed rain.
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