Tides and Trails

I chase those fleeting moments on the coast when evening sun brings textures in sand and rock and water to life. During the day I scout locations within running distance of my home that I think will look epic in evening light. I run the trails repeatedly during daylight, memorizing the paths so I can navigate back home in the dark. When a long trail run through the rainforest ends at sunset along a viewpoint I’ve been scouting for several days, and the scene is illuminated al

Strange creatures have been washing up on the shores of Cannon Beach. Several gelatinous species have stranded recently, including the barrel-shaped blob in these photos: a salp. Though salps resemble jellyfish without tentacles, they belong to a group called tunicates. Tunicates in their larval stage have a kind of primitive backbone—making salps more closely related to people than to jellyfish. Sometimes I stare at a blob of salp goo on the sand and let this bizarre fact bu

Tidepools along the Pacific Coast, and throughout the world, are painted with the vivid pink of coralline algae. This plantlike organism that harnesses the sun’s power through photosynthesis encrusts rocks in thin sheets that resemble lichen; it also forms structures that branch like tiny trees, as in this photo. Both forms of pink coralline algae are hard to the touch because the organism is calcified, similar to coral. By cementing stony chunks of coral together, pink coral

This “Christmas tree” attached to kelp that washed up on the beach is an animal colony known as a hydroid. Though they look like plants, hydroids are clusters of tiny stinging beasts. If you’re a planktonic creature adrift on ocean currents, this Christmas tree is your worst nightmare. If you’re a predatory sea slug, this hydroid is dinner. When magnified, the tips of the hydroid’s “tree branches” show little polyps crowned with tentacles; each polyp is a miniature animal tha

Welcome to the first Tides and Trails installment of Crabby Monday! The Lined Shore Crab (Pachygrapsus crassipes) skitters sideways and scoots backward along rocks and sand as it searches for algae and small animals to eat. During the day this flat crab hides from predators by hunkering down in rock crevices. Though it's about the size of a silver dollar, this little fighter will rear up, extend its claws, and prepare to do battle with beings that tower above it. If a gull gr