Even though I have no editing tool I wanted to share these two photos of intertidal creatures who are usually not reachable but who were exposed by the low tide caused by the close approach of the moon to the earth. We got out when we saw the tide turn!
Later on I got into a conversation on the beach with a woman who had walked very far around the point to a quiet spot and was taking a nap, when a couple woke her up and warned her that the water was rising, and fast. They helped her up a rocky slope to the railroad bed, and they all got out just in time to miss being run over by a freight train! She said that was enough excitement for her for quite a while.
Golden Gardens is one of the few places on the Sound that is in anything like its natural condition, although laying in the railroad in the 19th Century altered the area forever. Terry and my granddaughter found these spikes, just lying in the sand in a spot that is not ordinarily accessible. One of them is very rusty and could be quite old.
The Wikipedia entry on the Ballard area is very good, but I still can't find the exact date when the rail line along the shore went in. It's very busy, with around 25 freight trains a day going through, some of them very long.
Interesting info and photos.
Posted by: joared | May 07, 2012 at 01:29 AM
It's fascinating there and important to our grandkids, too, because they are city girls but love the beach.
Posted by: Hattie | May 07, 2012 at 06:37 PM
Oh, thanks for enlarging the railroad spikes to look so big. Seems in keeping with the importance of trains to the West--and the rest of the country.
I still have two spikes from Baltimore; could not let go through a couple of moves. We enjoyed walks along nearby B & O tracks barely used. Here though in Portland, many train whistles going through day and night.
Posted by: naomi dagen bloom | May 08, 2012 at 08:09 PM
My cousin points out that the Sounder, a passenger train, uses this line, too.
Posted by: Hattie | May 08, 2012 at 10:35 PM