Gnomish faces are turning up on the beach pines at Pacific Pines State Park.

A mysterious thing has been happening at my favorite local park, Pacific Pines. Some resourceful and imaginative personage has been attaching small gnomish faces to trees along the pathway that connects the park to the residential neighborhood. (www.parks.wa.gov/558/Pacific-Pines)

It started a month or so ago with one, but now more faces have been showing up. I think we’re up to five (though I now think several have been stolen). They are whimsical fellows with wispy beards, mustaches and hats. I love our little local state park, as I’ve often said, and these mysterious placements have only added to its enchantment (as long as they won’t harm the trees).

One almost hesitates to talk about Pacific Pines State Park because, as in all slightly hidden gem-like places or events, once the lid is blown off everything changes. Anyway, a thumbnail: the park grounds are 10 acres of mostly grassy open space surrounded by beach pines. (“Pinus contorta ssp. contorta, AKA beach pine or shore pine, a close relative to Pinus contorta sap. latifolia, lodgepole pine,” Kathleen Sayce notes). The park sports a couple picnic tables, a restroom, and a large parking lot.

Official sites say it offers “picnicking, beachcombing, fishing, clamming, crabbing, birding, and watching the sunset.” I might quibble with a couple of those, but they’ve definitely left one out: it’s a haven for dogs. Over the many years I’ve spent walking to and through Pacific Pines with a range of idiosyncratic doggos, I’ve seen a rich variety of alternative activity, also not on the list. Read on.

But first, dogs!

Dog walkers have discovered the park because, unfortunately, walking your dog on the beach — which should be a natural — is a game of Russian Roulette. Cars and dogs do not mix: dogs like to run after birds or feel the wind in their floppy ears; they are not always tracking vehicles. Why we still allow cars to roam freely on most all sections of the beach is a missed opportunity in my book. Though the beach speed limit is 25 mph, most drivers rarely stick to that; and I don’t think I have ever — ever! — seen any patrol person stop a speeding driver on the beach. It’s basically the Wild West.

So, I’m always looking for dog-walking spots that are free of cars, relatively quiet, and surrounded by natural beauty. Pacific Pines is one of those places. The deer paths that crisscross through and under the pines are wonderful, and if I can’t spot them Jackson surely can — his nose is always on duty.

On a windy or rainy day, walking under the pines is wonderful. Even getting a little damp is fun; feeling protected by a family of trees is a joy. Our trees give us so much. (I won’t include my usual rant about not cutting down trees — well, maybe just enough to try to plead with folks to leave our arboreal habitat intact. Trees are such a major part of why we live here.) Dog walking under the trees is surely one of the benefits of Pacific Pines, but it has so much more to offer.

Fire engines

One day in June, I found several local firemen putting Dan Kent through his paces on a “clearance alley” — a track set out with orange cones placed in an ever-narrowing pattern at one side of the parking lot. To become certified to drive a 45-foot fire truck, one has to both wheel down and back out without hitting any of the cones: something called EVIP (Emergency Vehicle Incident Prevention). It seemed an enormous challenge to me — but then I’m certifiably inept backing up even my 10-foot teardrop camper.

On this particular morning, only one cone was crushed in the making of this certified ladder truck driver. Dan passed the test. I watched for 15 minutes, then Jackson and I went on with our walk. When we looped back through the park, all signs of this activity had been packed up and had quietly disappeared. Just another morning in our little park.

‘Creepiness factor’

Then there was the time Navy SEALs petitioned to use our parks as landing spots for training. Why? “Puget Sound, including Hood Canal and the southwest Washington coast, provides unique and diverse coastal and tidal conditions that allow SEALs the chance to train for cold water operations in a realistic and challenging environment,” said Sheila Murray, spokeswoman for Navy Region Northwest. Pacific Pines was on the list of potential beaches where clandestine training could take place.

In January 2021, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission voted 4-3 to approve the Navy’s proposal to use our park and 28 others for training purposes (tinyurl.com/n28yn8ds). As stated “the elite units [the SEALs] would emerge from the water under the cover of darkness and disappear into the environment.”

A public controversy ensued. Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon ruled the park commissioners violated the State Environmental Policy Act by not fully considering how the training might deter park visitors. He said the decision was illegal and outside the purview of WA State Parks and Rec. Their job is “the protection and enhancement of parks.” Though Navy officials said the SEALs would stay out of sight, Judge Dixon noted that “the presence of out-of-sight SEAL trainees would incite a ‘creepiness factor,’ removing a sense of calm often found in nature.”

I agreed. (Sorry, Al.) One early misty morning, after that ruling and before it was overturned in court, I saw a dodgy-looking guy walking in Pacific Pines and thought, “OMG, he’s on a maneuver. I shouldn’t be seeing him!” But friend Al Betters (he was in the first group of underwater demolition experts before they were even called SEALs) said definitively, “If you saw him, he’s not a SEAL.”

But the “creepiness factor” won out. (Judge Dixon said he couldn’t come up with a better ‘legal term’ than that.) The deal was shut down. (tinyurl.com/449f2nnc)

Horses, bucks, owls and sandcarpet

I’ve also seen beautiful horses dismounting from their trailers in the park. (Because it provides a quiet entrance to trotting on the beach? Because of it’s out-of-the-wayness?) Then there was the stunning five-point buck Jackson and I saw prancing right toward us on the beach path. Then the ‘shrooming. Then the owl that surprised us flying silently and expertly between those gangly beach pine legs. Then the enormous out-sized house being built … wait … what? (Take a look — another entire parcel of land cleared of every pine tree and others in the adjoining parcel weakened and felled by the wind). Grrrrrr.

There is one thing I’d like to change about Pacific Pines that perhaps park tenders haven’t noticed, it’s the taken-over by sandcarpet (Cardionema ramosissimum): a nasty ground-hugging plant that sends out roots and in the late summer develops round miniature spikey grenades that stick to feet, paws, boots, pants, tires and anything else it comes into contact with.

Kathleen Sayce, writes, “It’s a native on the West Coast from southern British Columbia to Mexico and Chile. This species likes open sand and doesn’t mind being trampled. Feet (including dogs), tires, etc. carry the spiny seed pods around and spread it into lawns. It is taprooted, so pulling plants out ahead of flowering is best. Keep it out by maintaining a dense turf of sand dune sedge and low growing grasses around your house. Watch for it along trails from beach. It can be kept out with vigilance. It likes bare gravel too — so watch for it on gravel driveways also.”

The grassy areas of Pacific Pines are beginning to be covered with it. I’m starting to see it everywhere now, not only in the park but on both sides of the Peninsula. It’s crept up on us like an invasive enemy and once it takes hold it’s gawd-awful hard to get rid of. Just sounding the alarm. It’s horrible.

Unfortunately, I’m telling you about my park-fave just as it closes for the winter, October 1 — but that only means the gate to the parking area and the restrooms are locked. (There’s plenty of room to park in front of the gate.) The magic of the park grounds is still there to be enjoyed by all.