On February 12 I decided to check out Tolmie State Park off exit 111 – if you keep driving straight past Cabela’s you’ll eventually reach it. I had been wondering what the park was like, but wasn’t able to visit because I did not own a Discover Pass until now. I spent most of my time at the beach since the tide was so low, and then walked along the 4 Cedars trail for a little while. Several families were there with their young children digging for crabs and such (they released them later).

I did a small landscape sketch and tromped around the tide. I overheard the children exclaiming that there were sand dollars everywhere, so after they left I decided to investigate. There were hundreds and hundreds of live sand dollars buried right underneath the sand. I was walking all over them without realizing what they were! I’ve only seen dead exoskeletons until now, so it was surprising to me that the sand dollars were covered in a velvety fur-like substance, almost like the surface of a tongue.

Then I left the beach and walked partway along the 4 Cedars trail. I didn’t know how long of a hike it would be so I turned around after a little while. I will return later to hike it fully.

I wasn’t sure how safe it would be carrying around my expensive Canon so opted to use my point-and-shoot Fuji XP this time to take pictures. Check them out here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125884680@N07/