Echo Cove to Berner's Bay

The Weatherman  said we were headed for 80 degrees on Friday and Saturday. Thursday afternoon when it poured rain, I didn't believe it, but by 3:00 pm it was heating up, so I hurriedly asked for Friday off work - and then noticed that half the people in my office had done the same thing.

Friday morning we drove out the road, pausing briefly as 2 sitka deer and a marmot decided whether to cross the highway. At Eagle beach, we learned the Miller Construction was blasting rock to improve the road for the next four miles, so we'd have to wait for the pilot car. Not a bad place to be stuck for a few minutes.

We drove through the construction zone; the dump trucks backing out of our way as we came through.

We spotted lots of bear scat along the road, but no bears.

Once at Echo Cove - also the end of the road - we loaded up the rafts and hiked down the beach. The first part of the hike was easy on sand and rocks. Then we had to boulder which, trust me, is difficult while carrying a paddle. It was low tide so we easily crossed the cliffs on the blue mussels/barnacled rocks. We spotted whales feeding just off shore.

For lunch we stopped next to a crystal clear stream running right into Echo cove.

We put the boats in at Cascade Point because there as a small cove which sheltered us from waves. As we came out of the cove we were confronted with 3 and 4 foot swells, which is always a little unnerving. We paddled toward Berner's Bay and eventually the tide whipped us into the bay. Concerned about the tides, we turned around and paddled back to the boat launch at Echo cove. We were grateful that the whales were now feeding of Bridget Point, but a seal popped up a few times to check us out. We enjoyed riding the rolling waves back to the boat launch. With great luck we rolled up to the construction zone just as the pilot car was pulling away. An full day of good fun.