49th Parallel

There is a nice overlook and a trail down to the beach where the big gas-pressurized electric cables cross to Vancouver Island - or so I learned from the sign. Then I walked south to the minimally marked border. I guess anyone who tries to sneak in to the States via Point Roberts is sort of foolish anyway -- it's basically a dead end. I didn't want to do anything to alarm the guys at Homeland Security, so I didn't stray to far into the U.S. Maybe a little, but it was for the sake of photos and geological observations, right?

This is a nice gravel beach with a very broad sandy low-tide terrace (it's basically the outer part of the Fraser Delta). If the causeways have reversed long-term net drift directions, it sure isn't obvious here. There's some evidence of erosion, mainly at the foot of old slides, but for the most part the bluffs looked pretty stable. There's a broad backbeach and large firs growing on the face of the slope. There is a large drainage outfall structure just on the Canadian side of the line with a small stream dribbling out onto the beach.

The Canadian side of the border has big homes hanging over the top of the bluff, but Monument Park on the American side looks like a wonderful forested shoreline. I'll have to visit it some day - but I'll come in from the American side!