200 Sea Stars-August 13th 

This morning, we dined on cold cereal in our hotel room, then put on swim suits and sweatshirts for our day at Ecola State Park. Our tide table told us the lowest tide of the day would be at 4:00. So, we packed fire wood, hot dogs, sausages, marshmallows, and carrots (for good measure) for a lunch on the beach. It is an amazing drive uphill, which affords awesome drop-off viewpoints, as well as a one and one-half mile hike from the main viewpoint to Indian Beach. Wendy, Amber, and I decided to hike to the beach while the others drove the car. It was a very interesting trail with dense undergrowth, exposed tree roots, and moss everywhere. In addition, there are several points where you get a peek over the cliffs to the ocean. It was thoroughly enjoyable! We arrived at the beach around 10:00, which was high tide. So that meant we had six hours until low tide and our best chance at viewing the low tide sea creatures. Six hours to watch surfers, build sand castles, climb on the rocks, touch anemone, look for shells, eat our lunch, and roll in the sand (OK, that was just Wendy).

Around 4:00, we headed out to the tide pools. We were not disappointed. Amber counted more than 200 sea stars. We also discovered crabs of all sizes, one large one who was trying to hide, but got discovered and provoked with a long stick. I don't think he was as amused as I was. Each girl found a hermit crab and called it their own for about an hour. We saw mussels, clams, and even a sunflower sea star, which was bright purple and pink, with at least thirteen legs. Everyone had a great adventure. At last, we let the hermit crabs go and headed in for a shower and dinner. Another five star day to be sure.