Washaway Beach (Part One)

The north side of the entrance to Willapa Bay has been moving north for decades, gaining a reputation as the fastest eroding shoreline on the west coast. It's been disassembling the small beach North Cove neighborhood as it goes, leaving a trail of debris and pipes in it's wake.

But the land on which this neighborhood was built isn't exactly established ground. Beach logs, buried earlier by the advancing dunes, occasionally appear eroding from the bank. In 1921, when the Canadian Exporter ran aground, this must have been beach, but the ship's remains were subsequently buried by the dunes. Only to be re-exposed by the waves this year.

Another house went over the edge very recently and was still spilling it's belongings out onto the beach. Debris from houses lost earlier, garbage and tires from backyard piles, and asphalt from the streets litters the beach. The asphalt chunks were piled up and imbricated against the bank like shingle on British beaches.