Mark said lets postpone the hike to Tuesday. I agreed (does anyone with a sane mind plan to hike during a rainstorm?) I thought, if we were going to hike & camp in the rain, that I should pack the 9 x 10 tarp to use as an adjunct to the shelter we'd already planned to bring. For a pound, two 40 gm poles and 6 more tent stakes, that could make a rain hike tolerable. But who wants "tolerable" when we can pick our days and have "great"? Pending the rebirth of the sun, I may take a day hike on rainy Saturday so that I can test my rain gear. I called and postponed the hike to Wednesday.
John F. showed me his 15 clam limit from digging yesterday. I determined that I'd go, despite the early afternoon downpour and no prospect of clear skies over the coast. I bought my license online & John picked me up at 1715.
We arrived and watched people walking about beating the sand. Dark clouds pressed on the west--we saw the haziness over the water that meant rain. Waves broke off shore first hundreds of yards out then several times more until they touched the sand. The sun blinked once and then played dead. After about an hour, a few people began to dig for clams. After watching for ten more minutes we joined them. The south wind drove warm rain as we started toward the water. As we dug and the tide ebbed, the surf built up and obscured the ebb tide. We finished our digging and turned from the ocean, thoroughly wet from above and below. A great, stormy day at the shore.
The next day awoke in fog. It cleared by noon. I have no idea what I did all day, aside from cleaning the clams. I put the canoe on the car at 5, put in where dozens of fishermen were taking out. I took out as the water was choppy and put in at the Hoquiam River near 8th st. It was a beautiful day to go back for another limit of clams.
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