One of the nicest examples of a large deep-seated landslide on the Sound, this one stretches for almost two miles along the west side of Whidbey Island. As with most of these complex slides, some parts are more active than others. This segment, just north of the public access, was a mess when I first saw it in 1990 but every visit brings something new.
This area has moved significantly again this winter. The road north of the parking area has failed and the pictures show where the toe of the slide has been pushed up through the gravel beach. The house and the early generations of seawalls in the pictures were already destroyed by the mid-1990s, but have continued to ride out the landslide.
I visited this site again on May 4th (one month later), after the Coastal Training Workshop in Coupeville. The distinct ridges of uplifted and deformed clay are largely eroded away and much less obvious among the gravel and the old bulkhead slabs. The roadway has been refilled to its original elevation. In a few months, the direct evidence of this winter's reactivation will be gone. Time to build!
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