Tide Pools at Falsetter Point

Wednesday was a very low low tide out the end of North Douglas, near Falsetter Point at the Outer Point Trail. Elise and I went with the Dalton family, and the Rosenbruch and Walker families as well. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but as it had been rainy the last few days, we came prepared to be wet. The tide pools I've been to before were large boulder types with pools of standing water left by the receding tide. This group of tide pools were less actual pools, and more like moist spots under rocks on a sandy beach. It was really neat to be out, and to see all the neat organisms. Like all tidal areas, there were zones of different organisms. On this beach there were lots of different species of seaweeds, some mussels, barnacles, and limpets. There were some green sea urchins, and some baby seastars, as well as some polychaete worms sheltering under rocks. We walked along the sandbar between the shore and Shaman island and flipped over rocks to find little critters. Elise did very well, although she got tired of being in the pouch. She is getting way more independent, but I didn't think the ground was stable enough for her to walk, especially on that slippery seaweed. She held one baby seastar, but thought it was slimy and dropped it as quickly as we'd let her. We got there as the tide was coming back in, wandered and explored, and then headed back to shore. Elise and I then headed for home, for nap and lunch time. We had a great time, and thought it was worth all the sore muscles from carrying a 25 lb girl around for over 2 hours. We hope we get to go again, and maybe Logan can come too!

This is the tide pool area as the tide came back in. Shaman Island is in the distance, the path now almost covered by the water.

You can see Mendenhall Glacier in the background. I didn't realize we would be able to do that from that point on Douglas.

And here are Elise and I as we hold a baby seastar. Doesn't Elise look so excited? What a fun day!