This was another hike a couple of weeks ago we didn’t have a chance to tell you about.
The day before our Mount Si hike we hiked About 3 miles out to glass beach in Port Townsend. Glass beach is near the old town dump site that was a hole in the ground located near the edge of the bluff. The dump was eventually closed but the rough waves ate into the side of the bluff eventually exposing the old garbage and dragging it into the water. There were various bottles, dishes and ceramic hardware that ended up broken and worn by the sand and waves. There also used to be a marble factory in town so sometimes a wayward marble or mixed, colorful piece of glass is found.
I had been to this beach 4 or 5 years ago and I remember finding glass and pottery everywhere I looked. The beach was a local secret whose directions were guarded carefully as not to attract throngs of beach combers that would pick the place clean of these treasures. I wanted to make a trip out there to collect some beach glass and pottery to use as decorations for my wedding or possibly gifts.
Boy have things changed since I was out there last. My step-dad who lives in town warned me that the beach had been pretty much picked cleaned over the last 5 years. I did some research on beach glass before I went in case I had to buy some for my wedding and to my surprise a cottage industry selling beach glass “gems” had popped up. I found websites listing beach glass pieces from$10 to $200 depending on the color and size. Holy cow!
I decided not to expect much when I headed out there as far as glass but I did expect some of the, what I thought were less desired pieces like pottery, to be left. I decided I would just buy mechanically sanded beach glass for the wedding decorations because no one will know the difference and it is way cheaper. I still wanted to go out to Glass Beach to see what I COULD find. I have looked to Northwest beaches for rock and glass treasures as long as I can remember.
I got up at 7 am, packed up the dogs and a backpack and headed for the ferry. Port Townsend is a two-hour trip from where I live. We got to the beach at 9 am and started our hour and a half trek out to Glass beach. There were already 20 cars in the parking lot at 9 am but there are two directions to hike along the beach and many people stop before they actually get to glass beach so we didn’t know how stiff the competition would be. We hustled out to glass beach to try to beat the people walking down the beach behind us and in hopes of finding some treasure before it is totally picked over.
When we got to glass beach there were already 5 people with 3-gallon buckets and garden hand rakes combing through the sand and rock piles looking for glass. We spent an hour walking back and forth on the beach and digging in the rocks. There was nowhere near the amount of glass and pottery I saw there 5 years ago. There was still some to be found but the pieces were smaller and usually the more common white, brown or green.
Growing up I took finding glass on the beach for granted. I thought that all beaches had glass on them. While doing the research before our trip out here I found that this beach is one of the most abundant areas for sea glass in the state, if not in the world. I find it a little sad that people go out and literally mine the beach for this stuff and that someday it will be near impossible to find a piece of rounded sea glass. Sure, garbage still finds its way into the waterways but the era of dumping your trash in a big hole near the bluff is gone. A Seattle Times article I read said that “it takes [approximately] 20 years of weathering for a jagged shard to become a smooth stone”. The day when you visit a northwest beach and don’t find a piece of weathered glass on it is a reality.
I don’t disagree with the collection of this stuff. In fact I am a huge proponent of it. What doesn’t quite feel right to me is the people who go out with big buckets and rakes and spend all day combing through the sand and rocks trying to get every last piece and not leaving any treasures behind for others to find.
Anyway, the weather was beautiful and we had a lot of fun on the hike and I managed to collect a Ziplock baggie full of sea glass. I even found one marble! Gretel is infatuated with birds and there were so many out there that it was hard for me to walk her because she kept pulling this way and that. Chester doesn’t like getting wet so I had to really encourage him over the areas where we had to walk out in the lower tide areas to get around the downed trees. Both doggies ended the hike tired and happy as usual.
The mission on this trip was to collect glass. I didn’t take any pictures while we were out there. You can check out this blog post about collecting glass at glass beach that has a small photo of the area. In lieu of doggie photos I will leave you with a couple of photos of the glass I collected.
Anna says
July 12, 2011 at 6:10 AMLovely!!
Mary Hone says
July 12, 2011 at 7:14 AMI love sea glass. That’s cool you know a good place to gather some, but bad that others go out there and get lots of it just so they can sell it. It’s a sticky subject to be sure.
AdventureJess says
July 12, 2011 at 10:46 AMIt doesn kind o fruin it for others…but then again if one person chooses not to do it on morals the next person will do it anyway….
edmontonmoxiedoxies says
July 12, 2011 at 8:09 AMI loved hunting the beach for sea glass. You can still find some on the beaches of Vancouver Island from Victoria to Sooke but you really have to hunt for it. I agree people shouldn’t be out there with buckets and rakes taking all they can get that is just wrong .
Tammy says
July 12, 2011 at 8:17 AMI love sea glass too! I only found tiny bits of it on the beaches in Oregon – always a treasure when I did! 🙂
Jules says
July 12, 2011 at 10:19 AMLove beach glass. Headed to port t today-any other hikes you recommend?
AdventureJess says
July 12, 2011 at 10:44 AMYou guys are in Port Townsend??? On your road trip? Where is home base?
I don’t know of any other super great hikes in Port Townsend although hiking around Fort Warden is fun if you want to view all the WWII bunkers. There are some south of there in Quilcene though and some west. Email me at adventurejess@gmail.com and tell me what areas you will be visiting and I can make some recommendations for sure.
3 pups says
July 13, 2011 at 5:43 PMhey, we’re staying at ft. worden, LOVE it, but it’s pretty wet. hiked this am quite a bit, then drove to lake angeles 9no dogs- they stayed home). we’re from atlanta, ga, so this weather is like our winters, cool and WET! so beautiful here- and we plan to hike zion near Quilcene tomorrow.
thanks!
AdventureJess says
July 13, 2011 at 6:02 PMAll good hikes. Lake Angles is one of my old time favorites. I used to work at Olympic National Park. It is too bad you can’t have dogs on the trail though. The only National park TRAIL you can take your dog on is the Spruce Railroad Trail out by lake Crescent. The best part of the hike is about a mile in to the Devil’s punchbowl. Zion is nice too. Glad you are having a good time. Didn’t know you guys were coming up to Washington….
Mumsy, Chancy and Crew says
July 12, 2011 at 11:59 AMYou all sure do go on some nice hikes and adventures. The sea glass is beautiful! Hugs and nose kisses
2browndawgs says
July 12, 2011 at 12:28 PMI have never heard of beach glass. It is very pretty.
AdventureJess says
July 12, 2011 at 12:31 PMIt’s wonderful when you can find it. I used to collect lots of beach rocks but I ended up with too many rocks so I switched to the much rarer beach glass.
Brandon says
November 8, 2013 at 6:07 AMJesus Christ! Are you serious……Don’t take all of our beach glass blah blah blah….Quit complaining. Washington beaches are covered in glass and if it wasn’t for the internet spreading the word about glass beach Port Townsend would have been gone a long time ago. Now the place is booming with tourists bringing their kids and their $money$ and I think revenue for the town is a hell of a lot better for Port Townsend then some Beach Glass….As to finding glass there…Me my girl friend and our best friend went last year and scored gigantic jewelry quality pieces with some of them well over half dollar size in red,teal(coke bottle) milk jug oranges, the normal green blue white also got tons of super sonic blue thats what we call it the bright blue. So if u think that beech is picked through your wrong you just may have to look a little bit….Its just not like a child’s Easter egg hunt anymore you might have to move a rock or two! Unless you got prior rock hounding or beach combing experience u probably will just get the normal tiny pieces with the occasional nice piece……. LOOK HUNT DIG maybe u will find something…..And shut up with oh don’t bring buckets and shovels shut up with that shit…..People that drive 6 hours from other states just to go there u best believe they are coming with shovels…I say get it by the truck load the sooner i can walk barefoot on our beaches safely…maybe by the time I have kids it will be free and clear of trash and glass…Do yourself a favor and quit wasting so much energy online bitching and get out there and do your part in picking up trash if you can’t find any glass….Happy Hunting
-GreedyGlaSSrZ
Jessica Rhae says
November 8, 2013 at 11:36 AMI did not write a rant post so I don’t consider that I was “complaining”. I merely mentioned a fact and may have reminisced that it didn’t used to be that way. I have many fond memories there and the increase in collectors has not made that place any less special for me. I have found in the past, and continue to find, many special pieces. I will point out that my blog is not about “bitching about this issue” so I am not “wasting energy”. I write a blog about fun adventures with dogs and happened to write about one of our favorite places.
Normally, I do not allow abusive comments – as the tone of yours clearly is. However, this time I will allow it. I think you have a great point about glass beach bringing tourist dollars to Port Townsend. Plus, I would like my readers to see the kind of angry and insulting comments that I have to deal with as a blogger who shares my views online. However, the next comment you leave like this will get you banned. I do not tolerate personal attacks or abusive comments.
If you would like to respectfully add to the conversation you are more than welcome to do so. I always welcome different points of view. If you would like to view my comment policy before leaving your next comment, you can do so here http://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/legal-stuff/
Jessica Wyman-Brown says
June 1, 2014 at 12:26 PMwhat an amazing responce..you are great. we have a park near me in Olympia wa and my 2 boys and i always find beach glass. i don’t think jewelry worthy but none the less a treasure for a 4 yr old..i crawl around on my hands and knees and people look at me like i’m goofy and often ask what did i lose. i always hesitate to say what i’m looking for. we went yesterday and i saw a woman walking up the trail with a gallon zip-loc and i was like dang it,maybe we won’t have luck today,but we did. we are happy to find a couple pieces to add to our collection that sits in a dish on the back of the toilet. whenever we find pieces that arent ready we always throw them as far as we can back into the ocean so maybe some lucky person will find it a different day when its ready. our dream is to find just 1 sea glass marble. that would be amazing..thanks for your blog you ROCK!
Jessica Rhae says
June 1, 2014 at 12:32 PMThank you Jessica!
i appreciate every single piece of beach glass that I find too. I have such happy memories of the beach in Port Townsend, and of Port Townsend in general, I would be lying if I said I won’t be a little disappointed when I can no longer find glass at my favorite spot. I understand that things change, and situations change, though.
I always throw the jagged pieces back too 🙂
Thanks for reading my blog and I am glad you find some useful/entertaining information here. Have a great day!
Julie says
July 15, 2016 at 5:38 PMHmm ever thought Port T own send is a tourist town it didn’t need the glass to attract people! You obviously didn’t look around the town. It grew up there and tourist are ALWAYS part of the make. Get off the high city slicker attitude
Kimberly Gauthier says
November 8, 2013 at 1:04 PMI really need to get out more! I would love to hunt for beach glass. I thought it was only something people in California did – I’ll have to make a list of places to go when we thaw out next year.
Adrienne Bennett says
October 13, 2014 at 9:12 AMFunny…I was planning a trip with my weiner to Port Townsend this week specifically to see if I could find a few pieces of beach glass and Google presented your blog asa search result for Glass Beach. I’m sad to see that it’s likely that I won’t find a thing since it’s been an additional 3 years since you wrote your blog. Sigh.
Jessica Rhae says
October 13, 2014 at 1:18 PMOh, that’s not true at all. If you start at North Beach and walk left (I’m not sure which cardinal direction that is) you can still find pieces of glass all along the beach You won’t find the most until you get to glass beack (which may not be ppssible with the tide) but they’re still pieces to be found. It’s less common to find blue than it used to be but its still very possible.
Ashley says
January 8, 2016 at 2:07 AMHello! I know this is a bit of an older blog post, but I enjoyed reading about your treasure hunting experience. I’ve been beachcombing since I was very young, but just recently got more into sea glass collecting. I started with petoskey stones in Michigan (where I live) and progressed to shell-hunting on Sanibel Island with my parents. Now as an adult, I still visit these places with my husband, looking for shells and seaglass, keeping the tradition alive. 🙂
I’ve surprisingly found quite a bit of seaglass in Florida – mostly small green, whites and browns with the occasional aqua and blue. Though most pieces are small, we still enjoy the excitement for finding a treasure amongst the sand. For experienced beachcombers, we know the days can be fickle – and while on one trip you can find many pieces, another it seems you find nothing at all! And even more so with the lessened use of glass and prevalence of plastics, it makes finding the occasional piece even that much more precious.
I’ve never been to Glass Beach, and experiencing my first trip to Seattle last year, I decided I definitely would like to check it out this time! It perhaps may not be as plentiful as in its past, but I think I would still enjoy the journey!
Do you have any tips for me perhaps? I’m not sure of the best starting point (I think there is public access near Fort Warden and Glass Beach exists below McCurdy Point?) but I know it is a lengthy walk, one that is best done at low tide! I think we will be going in mid-March, hopefully this will be before those evil bucket collectors normally strip the beach in the spring / summer like you mentioned!
I hope someday to be able to visit more glass beaches, as they are a rapidly dwindling treasure. This year I’m also hoping to check out Jacksonville Beach and next year the famed Glass Beach of Kauai Island. Though these all may be once in a lifetime trips, I look forward to the new experiences and the potential treasures found therein.
Thanks for your post!
P.S. Our lil 11 yr old weiner stays home on our out of state trips, but as rambunctious as she is, I’m sure would enjoy it! 🙂
Ash
Jessica Rhae says
January 8, 2016 at 12:21 PMHi Ashley. I really appreciate you leaving a comment even though it was an older post. I still read them! 🙂
I got into sea glass collecting as a necessity of sorts. As a kid, I used to collect rocks. I ended up with too many so I started collecting only the most special and unique ones. I still ended up with too many. I switch to sea glass because it’s more rare. Ha, ha. Also because I find it amazingly beautiful. The theme for my wedding was sea glass.
The best way to get to the central part of glass beach is to walk there from North Beach. Glass beach is just west of Ft. Warden state park. You take Kuhn Street to get there. Walk left from the parking lot along the beach. You can start finding glass right away.
The old dump location, where most of the glass originates, is about 2 miles down the beach. You can’t get there unless the tide is pretty low (less than a 2.0 I think). I am not sure it will be that low in mid-March. You used to be able to access the beach directly from a really steep bluff trail but, as far as I know, that access has been cut off because of the danger and private property issues.
You’ll still be able to find glass even if you only walk part way down the beach. Have fun!
Ashley says
January 8, 2016 at 2:12 PMThanks so much for your reply! 🙂 It’s funny you mentioned rocks, cause I loved collecting those too as a kid. In fact, this year my mum got me a jewelry-grade rock tumbler for Christmas! So I guess I’m still trying to recapture my childhood as adult way haha. My fascination with seaglass too pertains to jewelry making, as I currently make necklaces and would love to incorporate seaglass into my designs. 🙂
Thanks for your tips as well! I’m really excited to go, and I checked the tide table, and it looks like at noon-1pm low tide will be at .9, so it looks like I’m set! My dream is to find a piece of red / purple seaglass someday, though I know the odds are quite slim with those colors being so rare!
I did have another question about the trek to glass beach – is there any chance of getting “stuck” by the tide? I’ve heard people mention this before, and it sounds kinda scary – I’d hate to be swimming back to my car in the freezing cold waters of March!
Also, if you are into collecting shells, I highly recommend taking at least one trip to Sanibel / Captiva Island in Florida. My first experience with low tide was there – tidal pools filled with shells, star fish and other creatures! I can even give you a couple of beach tips on where to go for the best results. It’s really a fun experience, one that cemented my own love of beach collecting. 🙂
P.S. – What’s your rarest beach find?
Thanks again, happy collecting! ^_^
Linda Klop says
April 26, 2017 at 10:26 AMJust happened to see your blog. Very interesting. I am planning a trip to Vancouver Island in early Sept. 2017. I love collecting rocks, driftwood and beach glass. We lived full time in a trailer for 7 years so my collecting did get to be a problem with weight limits!! I absolutely am in love with beachglass and hope to find a few pieces to wirewrap for close friends, family and myselft as special gifts. Any suggestions you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I am not looking to fill “buckets” – just a few nice pieces would make me very happy. We are also planning to drive down the coast of WA, Oregon and northern CA hoping to find some “treasures”.
Would love to hear from you. Loved the pics of your beachglass. I do think beachglass are treasures from the sea and I love to wonder as to where they came from and who might have used and loved whatever glassware they originally came from.
Hope to hear from you.
Thank you
Linda
Jessica Rhae says
April 28, 2017 at 9:33 AMHi Linda. I hope you have a great trip to Vancouver. I’m not familiar with beach glass in that area. You might know about this site but it’s helped in my beach glass research before. http://www.odysseyseaglass.com/where-to-find-sea-glass.html. I do know there is a great glass beach in California near Fort Bragg. I hope to visit it someday.