After hiding out in the shade for a couple hours, I took my camelbak and an umbrella, retraced my steps to the rocky outcroppings at the end of Crescent Beach, and investigated the beach beyond. Rocky and deserted. My kind of place!



The upper reaches were covered in large, smooth, flat stones -- no Mom, I'm not driving my car down the beach and loading you up a trunkful of them -- and strangely red sand. Very cupric?





Beachgoers have a primal drive to build cairns. I saw them back on the sandy beach, too, but this one was more noticeable and aesthetically pleasing.



At the end of my new private beach, past more rocky outcroppings, I found a sign telling me that beyond was a nature preserve, and I should just push off, so I sat on a rock at the edge of the sea and fell prey to the universal mesmerizing powers of breaking waves.



The tide was coming in with impressive rapidity, and it chased me off of three rocks before I had retreated sufficiently to retain dry shoes. The eventual journey back exposed an impressive jutting of rocks that appeared to have been sawn off by some great sheering force (clicking on this one to enlarge it is highly recommended).



The colors of the rock are really phenomenal -- perhaps my beach was ejected from Mars!



This one is nearly purple.



Unfortunately, the day was not all sunshine and kittens. A sturdy headwind all the way down Crescent Beach bent the two wonky spokes on my umbrella, I lost half of my favorite pair of earrings down the drain, and then I got rained upon on the walk back from the dinner.

Labels: Maine

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 7:47 PM.