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The Daily Bucket - November ocean trip, Part 1 (rainy n windy) [1]
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Date: 2022-11-16
November 2022
Olympic Peninsula
We stayed out on the open ocean for 4 days in early November, on the far side of the Olympic peninsula. It’s very different from the inland waters of the Salish Sea: the salty aroma and roar of surf, and overall dampness of the temperate rainforest. It fills my spirit in its special way.
The weather shifted partway through our stay so there’ll be a wet and windy socked-in Bucket, and a showery windy cold Bucket. The second half of our trip we were joined by family; good timing for the kids!
Part 1 November 2-4
The 9-hour trip over there (including two ferries) was in nice weather. The road department was making use of the dry day to work on a couple of bridges, including one over the Sol Duc River (there are five crossings of the Sol Duc between Port Angeles and Forks). However by the next morning a massive atmospheric river arrived, as forecast. It rained heavily and steadily for two solid days and nights.
Here’s what an atmospheric river looks like from satellites. This one was so big NOAA had to stitch together multiple images. Frequency of atmospheric rivers has been increasing in recent years.
On the ground, it means a huge dump of rain in just a few days, in this case about 6”. Weirdly, it’s been dry since then. Average precipitation for the whole month of November is about 13” (with 120” total annual precip).
Through the window of our cabin
The Quileute Reservation is on the south side of the Quillayute River, so to get to Rialto Beach we have to drive inland 7 miles, cross the river up there, then 7 miles back to the coast. It was too windy to walk very far down the beach, especially with stinging rain blowing horizontally, but I enjoyed watching the gulls foraging in the surf and in the washed up seaweed. Big winter surf tears up all kinds of seaweed and deposits it on the beach with whatever critters were living on it, and beach invertebrates like amphipods go to work on it too. Lots of morsels for Glaucous-winged, Western and California gulls.
Rialto beach action. Beyond the sand spit and jetty is the Quillayute River and La Push
That day the wind was out of the south. I had to tuck in the lee of a big driftlog to see the gulls without getting blasted. Turning around so my back was to the wind it was cool seeing seaweed bits blowing up the beach in the gusts.
Back in La Push at the mouth of the Quillayute it was evident the rainstorm the previous weekend had filled the river considerably from its extreme low October level. The extended summer drought had caused all Olympic peninsula rivers to drop to dangerously low levels. In fact fishing in the rivers was prohibited. A local told us the Quillayute had been reduced to a series of pools where salmon milled around unable to migrate upriver.
By now, a few days after that first rainstorm of the season, the river was running and the atmospheric river was dumping even more rain in the watershed.
A dog at the parking area was playing with a salmon carcass.
Quileute town of La Push on right. Quillayute River, marina and US Coast Guard station on left.
I heard an eagle calling. Turned to see it flying across the river. Perhaps it had dropped the salmon up on the back and got discouraged by the dog (and us in our car).
Pair of eagles on driftwood, other side of the river
The salmon was more a chew toy than food to the dog.
Salmon carcass was fairly fresh, did not smell
Later the local gulls and crows came to scavenge the salmon. Maybe this fish had drifted downriver, or maybe it was one of the unlucky ones trapped by the low river.
Glaucous-winged gull, Beach crow, and what looks like a Coho salmon
So interesting seeing the dynamics between the gulls and crows, and amongst themselves, around food. In this case I didn’t see much aggression (one crow drove another crow away and gave it a bit of a beat down — dominance, or play?). Fall is a rich season for foraging at the mouth of the Quillayute, given its healthy salmon runs and spawning season, and none of these birds looked thin.
My forays outside on the atmospheric river days were fairly brief. No way to keep dry or warm. Thankfully we were staying in a cabin rather than camping (though the wind knocked the electricity off Thursday evening). After sitting out in the driftwood absorbing the surf mist and drama I could just go inside and dry off.
Cabins on left. Fog in the trees. Rain on everything, including the camera lens.
Drying clothing and boots between walks outside in the storm
In case you missed it earlier in a Bucket comment last week, here’s some rainy windy foamy surf footage. The sound is surf and rain on my umbrella :)
By Friday night the rain was easing. Saturday and Sunday weather turned brighter, if unsettled. Windy, showery, sunbreaks.
🫧
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