to the coast

I woke up this morning knowing I wanted to wander somewhere along the coast. My assumption was that it might be difficult to find parking but I figured I would manage to escape the confines of my car.

My destination for today was the short New Hampshire coastline. I arrived to find signs of very high tide. There were icicles hanging from metal railings in Hampton Beach. A bit further up the concrete seawall was covered in ice and road showed signs of ocean water encroaching.

I drove as far as Jenness State Beach Park where I was hoping that the parking lot had been plowed. It hadn't. The parking lot at Jenness Beach had two problems - it wasn't plowed, and it contained ocean water that had rolled over the low wall separating the lot from the beach.

I looked around for a spot to leave the car, lining up on a side street with the folks who were out surfing in the very cold ocean. I climbed over steep snow banks separating the road from the parking lot, walking toward the ocean to watch the crashing waves. Luckily when I climbed back again there was someone standing there who was happy to give me his hand.

I walked down the road a bit to visit the birds who were hanging out on the inland waters. Once I was done chatting with the birds I decided I really did want to walk on the beach. The beaches north of Hampton Beach are small in width (from ocean to the edge of the beach) as compared to Hampton.

While the wild ocean had taken over most of the other beaches I knew Hampton Beach had some sand available for walking, even with today's very high tide.

More photos from today can be seen in the gallery New Hampshire coast - 2013 starting with this photo and ending here.