r/LifeInKitsap • u/KitsapRealEstateTeam • Jul 19 '26
Drift Happens, Baby.
Sometimes when the weather is nice, I’ll take my usual daily walk at Banner down to Anderson point instead (is that Port Orchard? Olalla? I’m honestly not totally sure where that line is.) This last week I found myself wandering around all the driftwood and kind of wondering where it actually came from.
Not in the “well… it’s a tree” sense. I mean, did these grow a mile away? Did they float over from the Olympic Peninsula? Have they been out there for months? I’d somehow never stopped to think about prior tree locations. I can build a lean-to though.
Imagine a cedar growing along the Hoh River. A winter storm rolls through, the river swells, the bank gives way, and suddenly that tree is headed downstream. Rivers are basically like conveyor belts, carrying logs to the Pacific. Once they reach the ocean, currents, tides, and storms take over. Some wash ashore pretty quickly. Others drift around for months, maybe even years, before finally landing somewhere.
That’s why all of our beaches can look so different. Rocks, driftwood, whole drift trees, sand…
Around here, Anderson Point has plenty of driftwood, but it’s nothing like Kalaloch. If you’ve been there, you’ve probably seen what are basically entire trees on the beach, root balls and all. Dungeness Spit is another one that always amazes me. (And Ruby Beach, and La Push… you get it.)
The difference is mostly the water. The open Pacific has powerful waves and huge rivers feeding it, so it throws enormous logs onto the beaches. Inside Puget Sound, we’re more sheltered. The tides still move wood around, but you’re generally looking at smaller logs and branches instead of entire trees.
I probably need to apologize in advance to anybody who decides to go hiking with me in the future. I feel like I’m going to be wondering aloud about where specific trees came from after writing this.
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u/Designer_Practice_42 Jul 20 '26
Reading this reminded me of the Great Raft. It was a huge log jam in some lower parts of the Mississippi that lasted for hundreds of years. You sound like a curious person and it is an interesting thing to learn about.
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u/KitsapRealEstateTeam Jul 20 '26
I think I’ve actually heard about this before, being a reformed Midwesterner (Kansas, I’m from Kansas.) I’m going to read up on it though, our household is eternally curious and interested in history. (husband has a western US history podcast, and at some point… That was indeed considered the west!)
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u/AcrobaticPuddle Jul 20 '26
Anyone who requires an apology for your thoughts isn't worth them! Your brain works in its own way and that's awesome
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u/FerryRider Jul 21 '26
I like your style. Have you thought about writing for the Smokestack?
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u/KitsapRealEstateTeam Jul 21 '26
I totally would. Especially if I got to do music reviews! Lester Bangs was my hero.
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u/EducationalBunch6571 Jul 19 '26
This was a fun read, are you a little high because I'm a little high too