Tag Archives: short sand beach

Spooky Tree Trunk

The Pacific Northwest provides a lot of dark and damp environments within which things can grow.  The shady environment is not just good for them but it also provides a spooky setting for visiting humans.  As we walked down through the trees to get to Short Sand Beach in Oswald West State park, we passed a tree along the trail that looked like exactly the sort of thing a set designer would come up with for some supernatural movie.  It looked like it was designed to capture the unwary.  On a sunny day, it was interesting.  On a dark and cold evening, it might be a little less appealing.

Geology Lessons In Stratification

Short Sand Beach was a pretty place to hang out but it also would be great place for a geology field trip.  There were some very clear strata in the rock and they were angled from the level.  It appeared that the corner of the beach was in the middle of the slope of the strata with the angles opposed on either side.  Low winter sun makes the shading on the strata stand out.  Every time I see something like this, it reminds me of a friend from school who used to impersonate a teacher whose Welsh accent really made the words sing!  You know who you are…

Short Sand Beach

We had a sunny, if chilly, day while down in Oregon.  We headed south of Cannon Beach to Oswald West State Park.  There was an easy trail down to a bay with a sandy beach, predictably named Short Sand Beach!  The parking lot was very icy and we wondered whether the trail would be okay but, once you were on the gravel, it was a good surface.  Coming out of the trees on to the beach, was a lovely entry.  You couldn’t see much until you got there and it was a gorgeous beach.

Plenty of people were down there.  It was popular with surfers and a number of them were out in the waves.  Headlands were on either side of the bay so the beach was sheltered from north and south.  The sun was low in the sky since it was December, so the south end of the beach was pretty cold.  Get a bit up the sand and out in the sun and it was a lovely spot to be standing and walking.  I imagine it will be very busy during the summer.