April 16th, 2019 : Neskowin Ghost Forest

[xoxoxoBruce]

On the Oregon coast there lies the City of Tillamook which is the County Seat of Tillamook County, which borders Tillamook Bay,
which is thankfully on the Pacific, not Tillamook, Ocean. The Bay, County, and City were named after the Indians Native Americans
Indigenous residents. The Nehalem or Tillamook are a tribe of the Salish linguistic group. Tillamook means People of Nehalem in
the Chinook language used by their neighbors. Huh?

For twenty years I am Pierre Nehalem. Then I’m called Tillamook just one little time, I swear no longer than that, and sacre bleu,
now they call me Pierre Tillamook... mon dieu!

Neskowin is an unincorporated piece of Tillamook County, and US census designated place. Down along the shore are about
100 stumps sticking out of the sand called the Neskowin Forest. The stumps are about 2,000 years old. WTF?

Rising out of the sand and seawater on Oregon’s Tillamook Coast, around a hundred ancient decaying stumps stand sentinel. Dubbed the Neskowin Ghost Forest, they are an eerily beautiful memento of the towering Sitka spruce trees that stood here for some two millennia.
Geologists theorize that the ancient trees, carbon dated to around 2,000 years old, were felled during the major earthquake that hit the Cascadia subduction zone in 1700. The earthquake dropped the forested land into the tidal zone. When the ocean water rushed in, it buried the decapitated trunks in the mud, which staved off decay and preserved the forest remains for the years to come.

For centuries, these old stumps were hidden under the sand. Peeking above the surf only briefly every few decades, the ghost forest was little more than a local legend. Then, in the winter of 1997 to ‘98, the coast was pummeled by powerful storms that eroded away the sands and exposed the uncanny natural wonder that was buried beneath.

I believe it, I’ve seen winter storms cause pokies.

Before they met their watery fate, the mighty trees stood around 150 to 200 feet tall. Today, the petrified relics of those giants share the beach with small tide pools and various marine life. The phantom-like forest is revealed by the shallow waters of low tide, and more and more ancient stumps become exposed when the tide is at its lowest during winter.

That ain't nothin', wait till the next subduction when the Space Needle goes under like those trees.

link

[Gravdigr]

It'll leave a helluva stump.