Stone 22, white, with striped rocks.

Found on the beach.

The land is beginning to move on the south end of the beach near the bulkhead.  A chunk of land plopped out onto the beach, and this skunk cabbage plant was mostly exposed.  I took it home and potted it up.  If it survives, I will plant it back in the park after this round of landslide is done.  If it soaked in salt water, it probably won't live.

Local records indicate there were slides on the property that is now the park in the thirties and the fifties.  During the Depression, men were paid a dollar a day to dig tunnels into the hillside in the park.  This was mostly done to give them work, but it was also done to install drains in an effort to stop the landslides.  The tunnels were big enough for a person to walk into, and they had to be sealed with rocks because neighborhood kids used to explore them.  The only signs they exist are the clay drain tiles sticking out of the slope.  There are three tunnels in the park.  Even if the tunnels weren't there, water would still seep out of the hill all year round.  The drainage tunnels have not prevented slides.  Landslides should not be prevented because they are a natural process.  The sand bars from Eagle Landing Park to Alki Point depend on soil coming out of landslides like those in ELP and Seahurst Park.  Most of the shore is held back by bulkheads, so the areas that do slide occasionally are important to the tidal ecology. 

I saw some white-winged scoters and a Bewick's wren.  Five miles today makes 61 for the year.