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Harry the Hairy Hermit LbNA #4486

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 15, 2003
Location:
City:Port Angeles
County:Clallam
State:Washington
Boxes:1
Planted by:SalmonSeekers
Found by: Lisa Homburg
Last found:May 22, 2019
Status:FFaFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Jun 15, 2003
Planted by: starfish and Nory
Terrain: Moderate
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate

UPDATE 10/11/13: Harry is home and would love visitors!
UPDATE 10/08/13: Harry is enjoying a spa treatment. Will update when he returns to his new improved home.

This diary entry was found swept into a bush at Salt Creek County Park, just west of Port Angeles. Based on his descriptions, we found Harry the Hermit Crab in his new home. Excited about the prospect of visitors, he gave us permission to reprint this section of his diary.

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Dear Diary,

All of my life, I’ve lived on Tongue Point. Every day the tide went in and out and visitors came to check out us marine creatures. At first, I found the attention flattering but after a while I got sick and tired of these giants invading my privacy. Time and time again they would pick me up out of the water only to squeal as I would pop out of my shell. You see, I’m a hairy hermit crab. When I’m picked up, I make a run for it, bolting out of my shell. I know, I know, it doesn’t make much sense but that’s just what we do.

So like I was saying, I got fed up with all this poking and prodding so I decided to leave my home at Tongue Point and go over to a cove just east of here that I had heard other folks talking about. They said it was protected and fewer people visited the cove.

Sure enough, it had a beautiful rocky shoreline and was away from all those crazy tourists. Oh, how I loved basking in the sun and enjoying time by myself. However, after hanging out in the cove for awhile, I started to get bored. After all, I did like SOME attention. It was then that I got the bright idea to travel and see the humans in their environment. I knew that a walking trail came down to the cove, so I decided that I would follow that and probably find them.

This is where my adventures began. I crawled out of the water and slowly started up the trail through the ferns and mossy boulders. It was quite a challenge to climb up all of those switchbacks! I can’t remember how many days it took me, but the mossy rocks provided just enough moisture to keep me happy. Finally, I came to the top of the hill and I found a sign. I couldn’t read what it said but I wrote it down, in case it might help:

COUNTY PARK .9 MI >
< VISTA 1.5 MI
COVE V

[UPDATE 10/11/13 This sign is not there now, however I think it gives good clues as to the location of the cove and direction of travel. The trail to the cove is newly improved and hard to miss.]

I went to the right as I knew that was the direction the people were. As the trail leveled out, I could see out towards the water. I had never seen the water from this angle before. It’s amazing how different the waves sound from this perspective.

I continued along the trail and headed back into the forest and down some switchbacks. It was so much quicker to roll down the hills than to climb them! I moved through lots of salal and went past many burnt out cedars along this trail.

As I traveled further down the trail, I started to get more and more tired. I realized that I wasn’t going to get to see where the people were nor was I going to make it back to my home at Tongue Point. So I decided to find a new home, here in the woods. I came across a wonderful burnt out cedar with a great place for a home but it was much too exposed to the trail and I might be bothered there. So I continued down the trail and I came across a long moss-covered log on the left side of the trail.

It was from this log that I saw my new home. The great Douglas Fir with its twisted bark off to the right of the trail. With the little energy that I had remaining, I took 12 steps from the end of the fallen log and took a small trail off to the right. As I slowly crawled down the trail, I moved around to the far side of the Doug Fir and found a little hole at the base of the tree. I crawled in and pulled a piece of bark to cover the entryway to my new home. What a snug, wonderful place to start a new life.

- harry
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Harry moved into his new home on June 15th 2003. Since he didn’t make it to the County Park, he would love to have some visitors! We know that he’d love to meet you as well. But be careful when you pick him up, he just might jump out of his shell!