We arrive at the false outer point trail before the mist burns off and the tourist guide buses. It’s not too early for the Stellar jay who squats near the trail, ready to curse our passing. Aki feints a charge at the bird and it flies up to low branch. Both probably consider theirs a job done well.

I lead Aki out of the woods and onto a rough beach trail, surprised at the how much algae now grows on the rocks. The green stuff seems to be creeping north as our climate warms. It makes the rocks too slick for walking so I have to find a work-around in the rockweed. A bald eagle that had been waiting on the beach for the tide to ebb flies off and lands on a stranded glacier erratic a hundred yards away. Its flight temporarily sends a gang of gulls airborne but they are on the beach seconds after the eagle lands. The big bird might make the gulls nervous, but not enough to abandon a chance to chow down on the critters soon to be exposed by the retreating tide.