Stone Lagoon and the Arch

Humboldt Lagoons State Park

Redwood National Park

(Map link.)

I was determined to experience the bit of California Coastal Trail along Stone Lagoon as it was "built". The predicted weekend rain wouldn't be enough to raise the level of the lagoon sufficiently to leave the north end of the trail once more underwater, but it might be enough to allow some attention to the inland areas that have otherwise been smoky and even slightly on fire. Now is the perfect time to finally walk the whole of this short trail. I planned to go all the way to the parking lot at the north end, then return the same way. I did have some thoughts about heading to Sharp Point and then walking the beach south from there, but the tides weren't looking very cooperative. They were coming in about 3 feet at sunrise and then climbing to about 6 feet at sunset with a brief backtrack in the middle to about 3 feet again. Sometimes there's just no such thing as a low tide all day. On the trail, that doesn't matter. I marveled that since my last visit, someone had lined the parking lot and it already looked old, then got started north on the still unmarked trail through the dunes.

trail through sand — The trail may not be marked, but it is highly visible at the moment. Sharp Point is in the background.

attempted farm land — Dry Lagoon is looking dry enough.

tiny white flowers in tiny leaves — It took some looking to notice the flowers on the beach knotweed.

The trail is still unmarked as it starts up into the bluffs, too. It is still clear enough, but the vegetation seems to be encroaching a little more. It wasn't particularly at first. At first, I was just enjoying that it was drier than it has been. The trickles of water that inspire reinforcement of the trail are soggy, but that is about it.

lizard holding still — An alligator lizard to represent the dry areas.

frog with some mud on — A frog to represent the wetter areas.

very white shelves with deep gills below the caps — Some sort of oyster mushroom, which is up in a tree with its own moisture levels.

red alder reaching high — A grove of alder along the way.

There's just a couple of spots to see Stone Lagoon through the trees and it looks very much the same from those views. I skipped checking the campground, but was quite happy to see the tree that had been directing all traffic that way was gone.

purple flower with a bit of a face — The smaller hedgenettles seem to be very reliable bloomers.

bright yellow flowers in rings of white — Actual blooming from the pearly everlasting.

drooping branch slightly obscures a view over the lagoon — A break in the trees to view Stone Lagoon.

grassy and rocky edges to the barrier beach in the distance — And a view of the trail ahead and the barrier beach. Since the branches are not hanging out over water, one can continue north on the trail.

I navigated the last bit of very soggy trail, with its one bit of bridge getting eaten by vegetation, down to the water's edge. There's plenty of room to walk the edge with the water about five feet lower than in winter. I took the left and plodded through the grasses, then along the rocks. One rockfall makes a slight scramble, but it is not too bad. I passed some short cliffs along the way and suspect that walking this route in winter wouldn't just be a matter of some waders, at least not in January.

The path along the shore. Just ahead is the little rockfall. The water comes up to the bushes at the top of the rocks in winter and causes that mushroom shape up ahead.

Yurok building on its own — I would expect this house to be just barely underwater in winter, but it might be just barely high enough. I see no water line in the wood.

large stretch of grass — Finishing up across wide, grassy fields that get completely covered in winter.

I arrived at the beach to find another sign of the changing seasons as I stood at the top of a tall cliff of sand. The beach is already getting eaten away by storms. Looking south, it did look suspiciously like it might have grown since I was last there. Or, at least, the rocks had shrunk and they don't usually shrink much.

sand vanishing from the beach — Now Sharp Point is to the south past the rocks that protect the beach a little, but have been dug out quite a bit.

distant orange bluffs — Gyon Bluff to the north as the cliff shrinks.

I turned north and walked along until the cliff was rather short and rounded. It was taller than I was where I started. I continued along, generally keeping to the stiffer wet sand.

black birds, a few with wings outstretched to dry — The cormorants sure are flighty birds.

footprints in the sand — Walking the beach.

As I got near the Stone Lagoon parking area, I noticed the strangest thing. Although the tide wasn't particularly low, it looked as though the point was clear. I decided to go for it and put on a little speed, although sand will totally punish a person for trying to hurry.

sand at the point — The point sure looks passable.

pair of brown pelicans and sea gulls — But slow down approaching the dinosaurs... er, pelicans and they might stick around for a picture.

It was still sandy around the point when I got to it. It took only the most casual of timing to get around the first bit of rock. The second bit of rock is already to that arch I found when investigating the area of Freshwater Lagoon. Of course I had to go through it. Many others had already since the tide was last high.

hole in the rocks — The arch from the Freshwater Lagoon side.

I took some not especially careful timing to get around the outside of the point with the arch and back around the second point. Flawless point passage!

rock arch again — Back to the south side of the arch.

footsteps in the sand — My footprints from the approach are almost gone already.

Then I headed back to the parking area. A few people were out, but not as many as had been at the Dry Lagoon parking area. I continued back along the most established path on the lagoon side of the barrier beach.

an arm of water and misty hills surrounding — The north end of Stone Lagoon.

thick, leathery leaves with big rounds of spores on the back — The leathery leaves of ferns more often found attached to trees grow out of the sand.

thin, purple petals around a dark center — The daisies are getting a little long in the tooth.

little brown bird — A sparrow plays among the logs. Many are cut, probably prior to landing here.

pelicans running across the water to fly — The pelicans are even more flighty than the cormorants.

black birds getting unsettled — The cormorants thinking about at least paddling into the water.

hooked beak and striped pantaloons stand over a gull past suffering — Predator and prey. A peregrine falcon stands over a former gull.

scaloped edge of the beach along the lagoon — Looking back along the barrier beach.

I found the trail around the edge of the lagoon once more and followed it back.

wide grassy bit — Previously, I stood next to this large rock and went no further because the lagoon was a few inches deep next to it.

end of the edge trail — Even now, some of those branches reach out over the water past where the trail travels.

I considered following the shore all the way around to the campground. I remember seeing a track on Alltrails that did that, but it doesn't look like it can be done. There are barriers visible from both ends. I followed the trail up and then down to the camp instead. The water flowing under the (first) bridge, the only reliably non-brackish source near camp, was not much more than a trickle.

small inlet and boat — Ryan's Cove with a kayak. The water was a few inches below the top of the boards, covering all the steps, when I last looked.

water with some tree obstructions to add character — The view from near sites 1-3.

I actually found an occupant in the campground. It is good to see it getting used. I chatted shortly, but it was getting late. I headed back up the trail, but decided to stop once more at Sharp Point. The trail past the campground spur is getting so brushy that the use trail to Sharp Point was actually kind of nice.

beach with just a bit of sand at the bottom of a rocky slope — South to Dry Lagoon and Big Lagoon in the distance.

From the top of Sharp Point at high tide, I could see what I couldn't see while standing on the beach. There might be splashes from the rocks on the beach, but there's a high shelf of sorts that is still dry. At least there was right then. Some of it is definitely on blue goo and the whole thing may be changeable. I enjoyed my time at the top, but only briefly.

waves pound on the rocks just north of Big Lagoon — Is the way to Big Lagoon passible? Definitely not, but there is a lot more sand there now. The tide is high enough to be washing water over the barrier beach and into Big Lagoon.

wide beach north of Sharp Poing — There's plenty of beach room north of Sharp Point.

I let my desire to walk up the beach get the better of me and ignored good sense. I found a trail down on the point side of the saddle and followed it down. It has some rather vertical sections. It got down to a spot very close to the water, but still dry. The waves seemed to spend their energy on rocks far out. I made my way as quickly as seemed safe noticing my legs were getting tired after all the sand. The blue goo areas were nice and dry and hard. I almost slipped on a bit of natural concrete covered over in moss watered by a natural seep instead. I kept thinking the waves were getting threatening, but none actually were.

rocky beach — Plenty of beach here, but what about up ahead? (There, too.)

sandy ledge foreground and rocky edge background — Safe among the dunes once more. All those splashes aren't threatening travel after all.

I kept a bit of a hurrying pace as, well, it was still getting late.

sun dropping below the horrizon — A couple minutes late back to the parking lot since the park is only open sunrise to sunset.

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