Out the Road

We drove as far up the road as we could, which was not all the way because they stopped plowing not too far north of a beautiful area called Eagle Beach. This is where Eagle River empties into the ocean. It is a great area to walk around on the beach. You can see the amazing mountains of the Chilkat Range, which is directly east of, and adjoining Glacier Bay National Park. I need to get better binoculars!! Eagle Beach is about 10 miles south of the end of the road. At the end of the Road is Echo Cove - so we'll have to save that trip for another time when the road is clear. Walking the sandy beach, I noticed that there seemed very little evidence of animal life other than the birds. There were very few shells, and no evidence of invertebrate life. This is different from walking the beaches along the Atlantic - even up to Maine where there are lots of shells, washed up crabs, seaweed pieces, and little burrow holes in the sand. And on the Atlantic beaches you can see all sorts of shorebirds pulling little creatures in the sand to eat. That was not the case here. The beach seems relatively sterile. I'm not sure why this is - is t because it's too early in the season - or is it just less supportive of beach life? I'll have to investigate that further.