Shi Shi Beach Clean Up

About a month ago, our friends Marc and Carrie asked us if we would like to join them in a beach clean up organized by Washington Coast Savers. Of course we said YES. This was one of our contributions to Earth Day and it felt great to be so proactive!

The clean up took place at Shi Shi Beach on Neah Bay, part of the Makah Indian Reservation. Collecting garbage was hard work and yet we got to be in a dream-like setting all day. We hiked, picked up garbage along the beach, stopped to play, hauled the bags 2 miles up the beach and up another 2 miles along a forested muddy trail to a place where it is all collected.

Makah Totem Pole

Shi Shi 2-mile trail leading to the beach

It was a four-hour drive from Ocean Shores, Washington to Shi Shi Beach on Neah Bay. That’s a long drive along the Olympic Peninsula, along pristine forests and Washington Pacific coast line. Neither of us had ever been to Shi Shi Beach before. Now that I have seen it, I think it just might be one of Washington’s most beautiful beaches.

You have to hike two-miles through forest to get to the beach. There are no roads leading to the beach, only trails.. The only way to haul the garbage out is on foot. Things that were too big to haul out (tires, buoys, masses of ropes, plastic bins, etc) were gathered in piles and placed out of reach of the tide line. We are not certain of this, but we speculated that a large boat would have to come and haul these large items out to another beach that has road access and onward to a land fill.