Aug 13th 6?AM

[Pictures here.]

The third morning proved that each new reward had to be earned.  It started easily enough - a leisurely awakening and breakfast still put us on the move with morning shadows stretched across the long stretch of tide-scrubbed beach before us.  (In Shi Shi time that’s "long shadows o’clock AM" I think.)

After a few hours pleasant walking the beach terminated abruptly in the final and most rugged set of headlands.  By now the tide had risen enough to block our continued progress.  We were forced (oh poor us) to stop and entertain ourselves on the beach for four or five hours - exploring, reading, napping, roasting tortillas over a tiny fire, sketching, inventing a game involving knocking over the other player’s shells with increasingly heavy rocks, and even an impromptu softball game.

At last the waters began to recede and like a time lock grant us entrance into an extended section of seaside boulders.  We began a slow tiring clamber over and around these boulders, choosing between smooth and slippery at the water’s edge and rough and dry but steeply jumbled farther up.

This supposedly short but seemingly interminable stretch did eventually terminate in a small cove circled by stacks, and we decided to split our team - some of us going up a a steep incline (assisted by ropes) and over the neck of a small headland, and others taking advantage of the still-lowering tide to skirt it.  I took a panorama looking back into the glaring light at the cove and it’s guardian sea stack.

The cove on the far side proved the last passable section for a while.  The scramble had taken us hours and Shi Shi beach seemed to be receding faster than we could approach.

Again ropes appeared to climb the bluffs to a section of trail around this impassible stretch of coast.  The trail wound through the ancient forest, on a spongy bed of needle loam that seemed yards deep in spots.  At times spectacular views would emerge, glimpses down the cliffs a hundred feet or more to rocky coves.  At times you had to climb down those same cliffs to small coves littered with driftwood, and then climb back up the other side.

At this point Shi Shi’s protective magic was out in force.  My camera battery began to fade, sometimes shutting down the camera before a photo had been saved.  Luckily I had a backup battery.  Unluckily it was completely dead too.  Now I know why pictures of Shi Shi seem rare!  You have to leave behind civilization and its servants Time and Technology to enter its secret realm.

At last we left the lush highlands and descended into a wonderland of stacks, arches, and caves called the Point of Arches.  We crept along the seaweed-slickened tidepools, entering one cove through a portal bored right through a headland.  Our slow and strenuous progress (over four hours to go under three miles) without much break was taking its toll, and with the sun minutes from sinking and more slick rocks ahead we opted to stop for the night right where we were - one headland "shy" of Shi Shi Beach itself.

After a scramble to set up tents on the sand as far from the tideline as possible (which wasn’t much) before dark fell completely, we took stock of our surroundings.  A more beautiful place could not be imagined, even after the high standard of the previous night.  House-sized boulders were plopped into a narrow strip of sand, backed by cliffs dense with overhanging vegetation, and rocky tidepools filling the cove at the evening low tide.  Each end of the cove extended westward in a series of sea stacks (I count 17) far out into the water, framing a fantastic sunset that stretched out for almost an hour.  My camera revived just long enough to take 2 parts of my planned 3-shot panorama.

The stars emerged brilliantly again, and after an awesome dinner (recipe follows) we roasted the remaining marshmallows by a cozy fire with our backs to the cliffs, our faces lit by the firelight as we gazed upward and outward, pointing out satellites and Perseid meteors to each other, and at last climbed into our tents and gratefully slept our exhaustion away.

Jon’s freezer bag Pulao: Put 1.5 cups of minute rice in a freezer bag with a few tablespoons of raisins.  In a dry skillet toast a few tablespoons of sliced almonds, a tablespoon of dried onion, about a teaspoon of Madras curry powder, half a teaspoon of salt and garam masala, a dash of cinnamon, cloves, and chile powder.  Add this mixture to the bag.  To cook, pour in 1.5 cups of hot water and let it sit for a few minutes.  Top with some chicken from a foil packet or can.  Season liberally with hunger and exhaustion and a good view, and enjoy!  Makes enough for about two people.