Tidepools

Spring is upon the northwest, days are longer, and tides are falling to nice lows. Ken came up for the weekend, and Saturday we went for a hike at Mt. Work.



We had done the summit trail on a previous visit, so this time we tried a new trail that first took us down to sea level at McKenzie Bight.... and then back up.




Ken is all smiles in this nice, sunny weather.


Sunday was stormy and rainy, but we drove 85 miles out past Sooke to Botanical Beach near Port Renfrew to check out some tidepools carved into sandstone. The waves crashed against the wide rock platforms... that's a person way out there on the point. We made our way out there, exploring tide pools along the way.








Blue mussels and red coralline algae living it up in carvable sandstone


Ken singing in the rain... well, almost


Jodi exclaiming about sandstone, coralline algae, limpets, and urchins while getting drenched.



The cool thing about these rocks is that they are sedimentary, deposited on what used to be the seafloor. Because of uplift here (related to deglaciation and to being on a plate boundary), they are now above sea level rather than below.


Exposure to waves has cut the tops wide and flat. Exposure to wind and rain and other erosive forces (like urchins and chitons) has carved them into cool shapes with lots of nooks and crannies...



or apartments, if you happen to be an urchin or a chiton.





We wanted to stay longer and explore ("we" or "I"?), but the tide was coming up and the rain was coming down, and neither could be reasoned with.



We had a brief picnic among the trees (in the car with the heat on while drying out)... then it was 85 winding miles back to Sidney... where it was actually sunny.