Slogging Through the Sand
The tide is out so we plan on hiking the beach from Floras Lake to Blacklock Point.
We take Highway 101 North past Langlois, turn west onto the Floras Lake Loop, park in the lot just beyond the Boice Campground, and cross the bridge where Floras Creek becomes the New River.
We walk briefly through a canopy of trees…
…And step out onto the lake… no one here… no kiteboarding or wind surfing going on yet.
My favorite driftwood “bench” is unoccupied.
Bright yellow flowers bloom in the sand…
…And grow into large clusters of…
The sand is thick and it takes an effort to walk through. We call it slogging. So, we slog our way past the lake and sand dunes to the ocean shore.
We leave our slogging footprints behind…
To the east, the sand dunes and lake…
To the south our destination… somewhere in the mist of rock heads jutting into the ocean…
Sand dunes give way to sandstone…
…That gradually grow into cliffs…
Meanwhile, the waves pound the shore…
…And hurl rocks into the sandstone cliffs…
Water seeps down from the cliffs above the beach.
As the cliffs get higher, the forest recedes from their edge.
Whole crabs wash ashore. Can you spot the agate in the picture below? Hint: 10:00 from the front left claw… white top, tooth-shaped amber rock with a diagonal streak of white? I didn’t notice this until after I took this pic!
Notice how the wind and waves shape the sand at the bottom of this sloping rock.
The cliffs rise and we slog on blindly to where rocks and sea prevent us from continuing further.
And then suddenly, out of nowhere, we discover an arch carved in the rocky cliffs above.
We can see the end of our destination now… the nearest cliff with trees above that slope onto a rocky point below.
We are almost there now…
And in another 10 minutes, we arrive…
Rocks… dark green foliage… yellow blooms… lime-green moss…
…Blue sky… white waves… dark sand…
Looking north down the beach…
Discovering a waterfall dropping out of the cliffs…
…Wish you could be here!
We head back to Floras Lake…
Clumps of Valella valella pile up along the rocks.
The cliffs look amazing from this direction!
Rocks buried in the sand are amazing as well.
As we approach the beach beyond the sand dunes at Floras Lake, a kite sails the wind.
We reach the break in the sand dune and trudge toward Floras Lake where we take the trail that leads us back to our car.
We empty our shoes and shake out the sand from our socks before we return to Camp Blanco RV Park in Port Orford.
Holy Cow! What a souvenir of shells and rocks we collected today!
Oh, and here’s the agate we overlooked…
wandering gypsy Laurel 