Category Archives: Mud Bay & Rocky Point

The owner of the Rocky Point Mobile and R.V. Park is using, if not a novel approach, at least a green one for controlling blackberries on the property. When I took the photo shown above, the two organic yard machines (aka goats) had already made good progress clearing the growth along the hillside. And that was after a single morning of work. But there’s a lot of brush and blackberries left to go, particularly on the property’s southern border.

For the record the nanny appeared to be a better worker than the billy. The latter was spending more time showing off his great set of horns than in chowing down. Perhaps he was the on-site supervisor. Unless he starts doing his share, the goats could be there for the rest of the week. To head off any danger that they’ll wander out onto Rocky Point Road, the goats are tethered to a rope.

A long-neglected boat (see photo) drifted in on an overnight high tide late last month beaching itself on the spit in front of my neighbor’s property. At first I was excited as it would be great to have a rowboat for exploring Mud Bay and nearby Dyes Inlet. In checking around I learned that it is customary to wait a month before claiming a small derelict vessel. But a close examination of the hull shows that I probably don’t need to wait that long. In fact it’s unlikely the owner will ever mount a search for it. Now I’m trying to decide if I should patch the leaks or haul it to the dump.
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A low spot between two driveways on the Mud Bay side of Rocky Point Road serves as an informal neighborhood rain gauge. Whenever we get several consecutive days of all-day rain, a small pond forms there (see picture). Today, the water is almost a foot deep in places and the pond is as large as I have ever seen it. The pond doesn’t last long as the area drains quickly once the rain stops. Calling it a “seasonal pond” seems overstated. “Temporary pond” isn’t apt either. I just call it the Rocky Point Pond.

A couple of summers ago the property owners landscaped the area. They cleared out the underbrush, planted grass in the low spot, and added a bench and a few shrubs and ferns along their driveway. The next winter the area seemed to drain better and the pond was never more than a large puddle. But for now it’s back, at least until the weather changes.

The extreme high tides in Mud Bay (and everywhere else) the last few days are called “perihelion tides.” The name comes from the term perihelion, which is the point in the path of a celestial body that is nearest to the sun. For earth, the perihelion is reached around January 2nd. Since the moon is also in the part of its monthly orbit when it is closest to the earth, both bodies are having more gravitational effect than average on the tidal range. The result is higher than normal tides for the period January 2nd to January 6th.

Kitsap Sun reporter Chris Dunagan recently wrote in his Watching Our Water Ways blog that the state Department of Ecology is asking people to submit photographs of the high tides, including their exact time and location. Ecology plans to use the photos to help document the impact on Washington coasts of rising sea levels. I don’t plan to submit the photo I took, just share it with anyone reading my blog. It was taken this morning a few minutes before high tide in Dyes Inlet: 9:39 AM, 13.8 feet according to the Saltwater Tides web site. The photo shows the unusual condition of water on the land side of the small bulkhead in front of my house.

Okay, a lot of people wouldn’t mind having this problem. Living on Mud Bay I like to keep the shore in front of my house reasonably clear of logs, large branches, lumber, trash, dead fish, and other flotsam washed in by the tide. Most of the time all this means is waiting for a subsequent—and often higher—tide to carry the natural objects away. I clean up the man-made stuff, like plastic bottles and bags, right away. Last night, however, a log washed up (see photo) that doesn’t look like it is going anywhere soon.

It’s an ugly thing, about 14 feet long, barnacle covered and partially waterlogged. Whatever combination of wind, tide, and current brought it here also conspired to get my attention by depositing it directly in front of the kitchen window. Likely it has been drifting around Dyes Inlet for weeks seeking permanent rest on some beach like those huge gray sun-weathered driftlogs you see along the Washington coast. I wonder if other waterfront property owners have influenced its journey by dragging it back into the water from their beaches in a “pass it on, no return” scheme. I won’t do that, but if nature decides to intervene over the next few days, I won’t mind. Otherwise, this one is going to North Mason Fiber for recycling.