Boyce Creek

This place has several names, but it's basically where Boyce Creek enters Hood Canal. On the maps it is labeled Frenchman's Cove, but the new Kitsap County Reserve is called Guillemot Cove.

This is one of those rare stream mouths that is still in good shape and provides some clues for restoring other streams in the area. The stream valley was originally graded to a lower sea level, but was subsequently flooded by rising water and now forms a nice example of a barrier estuary, with a tidal wetland sheltered behind an asymmetric pair of barrier spits. The shape and orientation (and relative volume of longshore drift) of this shoreline means that the spit on the south is better developed, whereas the spit on the north is little more than a bulge of gravel and sand.

At very high tides, both fluvial and coastal sediment may wind up being deposited on the marsh surface, but the sink for most of the sediment is the broad intertidal delta. These features, which are common on the Sound, are somewhat a blend of deltas and alluvial fans. Probably depends on what the tide is. During today's -3.8? foot tide, it was clearly more of the latter.