A passer-by took the above photo on the classic Pinnacle Gulch hike. At the start of the hike (photo below) we were joined by Linda Johnston who usually leads this classic hike (third from left, with husband Gerry, second from left).

We start this hike at the ShortTail Gulch trailhead and descend the wide steps to the beach which is filled with beautiful tidepools. Then we clamber over the rocks which extend from the cliffs into the sea so that we can reach Pinnacle Beach. This hike is technical, and a specialty of Linda Johnston’s, because it can only be accomplished when a sufficiently low tide coincides with the time of the hike.

The tidepools are at the bottom of the ShortTail Gulch steps. There are more fisherman on Pinnacle beach.

Carolyn on Wide Steps to ShortTail Beach

The tidepools are rich with mussels who are hungry filter-feeders. Don’t these guys look healthy?

Below, we have a larger starfish. They eat the purple sea urchins that have been devastating the kelp by chewing off the “holdfast” that anchors them to the sea floor. We are so glad to see the return of the starfish that seemed to have disappeared for a few years, recently.

 

Joe Tenn took lots of pictures, too. This shows the crusty mussels on the rock outcropping.