Tidytips on Manila and Samoa Dunes

Humboldt Coastal Nature Center

Manila Dunes Recreation Area

Samoa Dunes and Wetlands Conservation Area

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The dunes are about to explode with bright flowers. It's getting some start now, particularly showing off a few of the endemic and endangered flowers. I've shown off the Humboldt Bay (Menzie's) wallflowers before. This time I was out to find some beach Layia, also known as beach tidytips. (Blooming, this time. Not just leaf clusters like I saw on the Hikshari' sand spit!) I started at the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center and headed for the high dunes. It's been a while since I spent some time on these highest of places in an area entirely built of whatever the ocean tosses up. Besides, the Wildberries Trail was flooded recently.

00: squat building with grassy roof — The Humboldt Coastal Nature Center is a striking building. Stop inside for all kinds of information and there are bathrooms and bicycle parking to the left.

02: trail in sand and vegetation — The trail over the high dunes starts on the far side of the upper parking lot.

The trails are generally easy to follow, but the signs seem to go missing. It can be hard to tell what is official trail and what isn't. They are trying to preserve those plants off the side of the trail, so it's imporatant make the attempt to stay on trail. I managed mostly.

04: trail through the dunes — Following trail through the dunes. Admittedly, the high ones ahead don't look so high.

The trail drops before climbing to the higher dunes, skirting along the edge of some emergent wetlands. It's not too badly flooded at the moment and there's usually a way past along this trail anyway.

05: grey and brown bird — A little wrentit out catching bugs among the willow.

06: flowers of willow — Close up on the coastal willow catkins. Wind polinated willows will survive the demise of the bees.

The low point is brief, then the trail starts climbing. There is also an option to stay fairly low and get to the beach. At this point, I took that option for the beach.

07: yellow with white hair — Creamcups are getting to be plentiful.

08: lots of yellow — A patch of creamcups.

10: ocean — The ocean is roaring and plenty of it can be seen from up on the dunes.

11: foggy ocean land interface — Trinidad is barely visible today. This year marks the first year of paid crew removing the invasive grass and there's a few working below today. They've made most the big grass piles along the foredunes.

13: sandy lumps covered in vegetation — Lines of other high dunes including trees.

14: bunch of bunches of yellow flowers — A very exuberant Humboldt Bay wallflower.

15: lots of yellow flowers — The wallflowers like wide open spaces.

Off on the edge of the trail, I found the first of my quarry.

16: circle of tight, white petals — Beach laiya, the tiny tidytips. The petals push forward more than outward.

They are tiny! They are smaller than the last knuckle of my pinky finger. I wondered if they open further, maybe show off some different colored tips as some of the genus is known for. (They don't. This is it.) I continued out to the beach. The wind blasted at me and I noticed that it smelled particularly, well, like beach today.

17: lots of big tree chunks on the beach — Quite a lot of stuff has been pushed up on the beach in the last few storms.

20: blue high tide line — The blue tinge (and the stink) was a multitude of 2-3 inch by-the-wind sailors.

21: long bill probing the sand — A long billed curlew was out working the beach.

I soon headed back up to the dunes via the South Beach Access Trail. Along it, I found a sign saying horses and hikers may go this way on a faint trail. I could hardly believe it. I decided to take that trail and followed it to the property boundary. The tidytips were all along it, some right in the middle of the trail. We keep getting told that they like a bit of disturbance, but we're not allowed to work by them if they are there. They're never among the thick patches European beach grass we pull, though. It's too stable and stuffy for them.

28: faint trail in the dunes — The least used official trail on Friends of the Dunes' parcel.

30: little flower and leaves — The little tidytips hanging out with coastal wild buckwheat.

32: little flower and tall, stout grass — The little tidytips hanging out with the invasive beachgrass.

33: fine leaved stuff with the little flower — The little tidytips hanging out with common yarrow.

34: among big leaves — The little tidytips hanging out with other asters.

36: minute flowers — Even smaller flowers, changing forget-me-nots, among the little tidytips.

37: there's a snail — Found lots of these distinctly bleached snails which are, unfortunately, just invasive garden snails.

The groundcover transitions to largely European beach grass and ice plant upon entering the Manila Dunes Recreation Area. I wonder which one wins in a battle of invasives? There remain patches of open sand where a more interesting diversity can be found. I took another look at the beach, then headed inland.

38: more tiny flowers — These shortspur seablush vary in size depending on soil properties, but aren't very big.

40: beach below a step — Beach and dunes topped by European beach grass.

41: high dunes — There's more high dunes inland.

43: big puddle — The emergent wetlands have emerged quite deeply at the waterline.

The rising winter water table has left quite a lot of water over the trail I chose. I was going to turn back when a woman passed by saying she'd be going around the water. More accurately, it was through less water, but I made it without too much leakage into my socks. It's a bit of work climbing on the wide, sandy trail. I stopped by the map at the Community Center and the platform on the tsunami evacuation area.

48: trees and interpretive signs — Humboldt Bay from the platform at the tsunami evacuation zone.

At the map, I decided I wanted to try WoLal Trail through the dune forest before continuing south. Not all of the trails to get there were very easy to see. I made some wrong turns, some of it encouraged by illegal bike riding. (None of these areas allow bikes.)

51: high up the dunes — Looking northwest from high up one of the dunes.

53: on the slopes — Few things can make it on the open slopes but the beach tidytips are there.

57: sandy trail past bushes — Following sandy trail past bush topped dunes to tree topped dunes.

59: string of flowers — Coast silk tassel greet me into the forest.

60: sandy past trees — The trail into the forest.

After coming nearly to the end of the trail as it dumps into a street beside a home, I headed back into the forest to continue south through the Samoa Dunes and Wetlands Conservation Area. The forest seems thicker here although the trails are obviously old roads. They follow in the high spots and the low spots of where the trees have captured these old dunes.

61: bushy dunes from tree dunes — The dunes with smaller vegetation just visible looking back from the trees.

62: thick trees — The topography is just visible in the forest, looking down from on top of one of the frozen dunes.

I wound through many trails, not quite getting anywhere directly.

66: trail with a shallow dip to the side — Trail through a low spot. There were some small puddles to navigate, but nothing bad today.

67: thick with flowers — Quite a thick collection of flowers on this evergreen huckleberry.

68: many big mushrooms — A fairy ring of big mushrooms.

71: woods that are tall — On through the woods.

Eventually I was on a trail that ended in the side of a well used, sandy trail. I followed it one last little bit out to a parking area and a sign identifying the area. That was my finish going south. I turned back and followed the sandy trail to the waterline.

81: low patch with willows — Tall willows sticking up from the hole to the left are some of the area wetlands.

82: wide sandy trail — Down the big, sandy, well used trail toward the ocean.

83: wave spray wind blown — A bit of a stormy ocean touched by wind.

86: flat patch of sand — Beach strawberries taking over an area.

The waterline is called that not for the line of water that tends to develop there but for the buried water main below it. The trail is actually dry were I hit it and I followed it for just a little bit too long.

87: infrastructure — Following the waterline with its periodic pieces of infrastructure.

88: dunes topped with trees — Looking back along the line of a dune to the forest that tops it.

I had got back into the Manila Dunes Recreation Area and the Sunset Dune Trail offered the last route out before the Blackberry Hollow Trail, which happens to be what they call the waterline, started to fill in with water. I was able to skirt it only getting mild moisture in my shoes before escaping on the Strawberry Dune Trail instead.

91: junction — Trail marker, one of very few remaining, among the muck.

92: foredune area — Back on the foredunes looking south.

94: dunes and waves — Up a hill left of the trail for the better view north over the foredunes and ocean.

After scampering along the foredunes briefly, I scampered down to the beach once more for another short glance.

96: sloped wet sand — Back on the beach.

And then I turned once more for the high dunes at the Nature Center. First there was a little navigation of the flooded Waterline Trail.

99: tree topped dunes and a flooded locality — The flooded trail with the final goal, some more high dunes topped in trees, off to the right.

101: sandy trail — The surprisingly steep trail up the dunes, but it is marked.

103: back along trail — And it is quickly enough climbed.

104: bay and houses — At the top, a view over Manila to the North Bay of Humboldt Bay and the mountains behind.

105: shaped dunes — The dunes are shaped by the wind to have long parabolic channels.

106: fewer buildings — The Humboldt Coastal Nature Center building is once more visible.

108: yellow flowers — Coast goldenrod, a bit more common than the tidytips.

And from the top, I got onto an unofficial but well used trail down the back, then wandered fainter but official trails the long way back to the parking area.

*photo album* where there's even more photos. It might be time to let the inner editor get more say as this was 3x as many photos as I like in a single post. Imagine how much worse it would be if I'd got hold of a handheld microscope, which is a thing I am currently pondering.

©2024 Valerie Norton
Written 8 Apr 2024

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