Closing out the season on Clayton Beach

Spring is hitting the Pacific Northwest in spectacular fashion.  Everywhere you look there are birds flying and flowers blooming.  The forests are once again green and full.  We have had some rain, but these hot blue-sky days are surely getting us ready for summer. 

Hiking to the ravine

For their final outing of the Explorers Club season, the Black-Tailed Deer ventured to Clayton Beach.  Clayton Beach is magical place to experience spring in all its beauty.  The beach itself is amazing.  There are so many exciting, different, and weird creatures and processes to discover.

The morning drop off was incredibly chaotic.  There was a mountain bike race in the Chuckanuts, and the Lost Lake parking lot was closed off.   After bit of scrambling, some super efficient vehicle exiting/gear gathering, and a safety first mindset, we were able to make it across Chuckanut Drive and into the woods.

Exploring the waterfall

The hike in to the beach comes with its own majesty and wonder.   The forest is big and lush and green with all sorts of nooks and crannies to investigate.  Instead of heading straight for the beach, we decided to explore some of this forest.  Directly down from the trailhead, there is a ravine with a little creek running through it.  This area is a perfect place to set up a basecamp for a more in-depth free exploration and a very challenging game of spiders web. 

Waiting for the tide to go out

The later half of our day was spent on the beach.  From the ravine, we followed the creek all the way to the bay.  We hit a couple of dead ends, and had to do a bit of bushwhacking and scrambling, but we ended up on a cool little beach with some really interesting rock formations.  It was a great place to get a snack, watch the tide go out, and enjoy the sun.

Finding hidden beaches

When the tide is high, the bay washes firmly up against the sandstone cliffs.  As the tide was going out the Black Tailed Deer soon discovered the “secret” beaches that opened up with the retreating water.  There was so much excitement and wonder in this discovery.  The explorers laughed and ran up and down this new sandy beach.  We finished off the day and the season with a game of otter steals fish and some nature art.  Finally we closed with a nice respectful reflection on the day and memories of our adventures past.  Thanks Black tailed Deer for an incredible year. To view the rest of the photos click here.

A great end to the season