We cleaned up the beach just a bit.  It seems a hopeless task.  After 45 minutes, we had covered only about 1/4 mile, and the two of us couldn’t even be sure we had traversed the entire width.  We focused on the parts back toward the cliffs, away from the water, because there seemed to be more trash there than nearer the waves.  Perhaps most of it near the waves had already been washed away or buried.  When they saw us, several other people on the beach picked up the trash near them to deposit in our bags.  Our backs hurt; we might need to get those long-armed grabbers if we want to do this on a regular basis.  We collected at least three gallons of trash between us.

This was dispiriting, so we went down towards the water and I noticed the deeply carved channels in the photo above.  They stand in striking contrast to the plastic bits, cigarette butts, bottle tops, candy wrappers, straws, and shreds of styrofoam that comprise the litter.  My fellow humans disappoint me.  How is it we can so cavalierly spoil such a beautiful place?