20230419 Wednesday, April 19, 2023; Mocrocks clamming Day 1

 20230419 Wednesday, April 19, 2023

We popped out of bed and stowed all our umbilicals and headed to Mocrocks in the dawn’s twilight.  The rain was quite hard and steady through most of the night, but as we arrived at the Roosevelt beach access to Mocrocks, the rain had stopped and a few patches of sky were evident.  It was eerie seeing headlamps flashing along the waterline in the distance.  The beach was quite wet from the rain, but our RV fortunately did not sink into the hard packed sand on the upper part of the beach. 

It was in the mid 40’s so we had to dress warmly in our waders, but with the activity of clamming, we were comfortable, despite getting showered on at times. Thankfully the winds were out of the south at 10 mph and not pushing the waves up the beach.  

We had no trouble finding the clam shows with a -0.4’ tide, and could afford to be a bit picky, only going after the larger shows.  Janet’s new SMI Clam gun pro worked like a charm, proving a bit easier to work into the sand and it also required less stooping because of its longer handle.  The Da-Glo red handle is also very easy to spot on the beach.  We started digging at 6:15am when there was enough light to see without head lamps, and each had our 20 clam limits by 7:15am.  The bottom of the low tide was at 6:45am.  

We stayed on the beach with the RV slide out to process our clams, going through much of our fresh water hosing off equipment and clams.  It’s a good thing we’ll be able to refill our tank at the Copalis RV resort.  

We drove up to the Pacific Beaches state park north of the Roosevelt beach access, driving through a new seaside development called Seabrook, which looked brand new and almost had a Disney like feel with a facade covered “Downtown” zone with quaint shops and restaurants to cater to the wealthy owners of the seaside weekend homes.  The state park had 9 first come first served RV sites and about 40 other sites. All of the reservable sites were filled, but only 3 of the FCFS sites were occupied.  That was good to know that at least midweek during their off season (which ends on Memorial Day weekend) it may be possible to find an open site.  There wasn’t much more to the state park besides the camp sites and 4 small car parking spaces, but it was situated right on Mocrocks beach, so clam diggers had direct and easy access to the beach from their campsites.  The sites had power but no water or sewer hook ups. Their sites were $40/night.

We then drove back to the Copalis RV resort and registered to camp through Sunday morning.  They said the septic was being “re-engineered” and that no RV dumping or hookups beyond the handful of long term residents would be allowed, but they did mention that Ocean City state park just 8 miles south had trailer dump facilities, as did Pacific Beaches state park.  There was no discount for the loss of sewer hook up, but the sites still have power and water for $44/night.

After refilling our fresh water holding tank and taking naps, we packed up and drove down to Damon Point to do an agate walk.  The weather was cool and moderately windy, but the sun was out and it was dry.  Conditions had improved at the point where there was some exposed gravel. The last time we visited, it was covered with fine sand so there was no chance of finding any agates.  This time we came up with a couple small agates, and didn’t end up skunked.  

After returning to Copalis RV resort, we had dinner using the Birdseye frozen pasta with garlic chicken augmented with fresh razor clams, adding a little more garlic salt and pepper.  

Tomorrow’s low tide is at 7:28am and is a -0.9’ tide, and it is at Copalis beach, so we’ll be able to walk directly onto the beach from this campground in the morning.  We’ll get to “sleep in” tomorrow and hit the beach at 7am.