My free weather app predicted a few hours of dry, if very grey skies this morning. Aki was open to the idea so we headed over to Sandy Beach for a recon mission. I was hoping to spot eagles and perhaps some ducks, newly arrived here from the coast. But the scene was almost totally empty of birds, dogs, or people. 

            We figured out the cause of emptiness just after we arrived. A man protected by tree harvest gear was sawing down a series of large alder trees. It was slow going. The lumberman had already trimmed off the tree’s branches. Now he had to cut off the top five feet of each tree, move down the remining trunk the same amount, and repeat the process. His saw could be heard over the whole trail system during our visit. This is probably why we had the place to ourselves.

            We spent most of the visit on the beach itself, where the saw sound was almost tolerable. No eagles perched on beach side alders, no opinionated king fishers tried to chase us away. There were small groups of gulls feeding nearby on sand bars. They never responded to our presence or even flew off when Aki walked within a few feet of them. We had to leave them their domain, free of risk until the alder logger drove away.