SEQUIM — Not much stops Patty Stone from doing her job.
Following what seems to be a code similar to the U.S. Postal Service’s “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” the Sequim woman steadily takes volunteer lighthouse keepers to their post on Dungeness Spit — the historic New Dungeness Lighthouse.
A group of a dozen volunteer drivers perform the difficult task weekly, and out of those, Stone is the only female driver, said Johan Van Nimwegen, vice president of operations for the New Dungeness Light Station Association.
She and another driver, Barry Dove, drove the 5.5 miles on the sandy spit to take supplies to the lighthouse on Dec. 20, while other North Olympic Peninsula drivers were negotiating paved roads and highways in the snow and ice.
“Driving out there in the snow is very difficult because you have no idea what is underneath,” Stone said.
“There could be boulders or even a seal underneath, and you might not know it.”
She and Dove were taking two people who rent the lighthouse and staff it for the week as keepers, along with supplies such as food and water.
The lighthouse holds an almost magical appeal to Stone, who first visited it in 2004 and wound up involved with its volunteer association as soon as she could.
The 5.5-mile path to the lighthouse is largely along the beach, where driftwood logs, branches and boulders are often washed ashore, Stone said.
“We have never missed a keeper transfer or had an accident,” Van Nimwegen added.
The hazards are not reserved to stormy, snowy weather.
When the beach is smooth, the drivers are just as likely to get stuck in the soft, moist sand.
“It can be very tricky, but it is a lot of fun,” she said.
Stone said she made it through on Dec. 20 with no problems.
That’s not to say that she has not been stuck before.
“Oh yeah, everyone’s been stuck,” she said.
“And if you think you won’t get stuck — just wait.
“Mother Nature will get you.”
Van Nimwegen called getting stuck on the path to the lighthouse “a rite of passage.”
“The only way we can get to the lighthouse is driving along the beach,” he said.
“Getting the people who pay to be the keepers and getting the supplies out there is our livelihood. It is absolutely critical that we do that every week.
“Sometimes we have to use chain saws and other heavy machinery to make a path.”
The treacherous winter months are especially difficult, he said.
“On top of the weather, many times the low tide — which we have to use to get to the lighthouse — is in the dark of night,” he said.
Stone, who is also a licensed pilot and member of the Sequim Yacht Club, said she enjoys being outdoors near the lighthouse.
“I’ve always liked lighthouses ever since I was young, but this lighthouse is special — it is kind of magical just sitting out there by itself,” she said.
“It is so enjoyable and peaceful we call it complete serenity out there.”
Staffed every day
The 151-year-old lighthouse is staffed every day of the year by volunteers, and the upkeep is provided by the New Dungeness Light Station Association, which took the lighthouse over for the U.S. Coast Guard in 1994.
“We are a completely volunteer-run organization,” Van Nimwegen said.
For more information on the association, phone 360-385-6638 or visit www.newdungenesslighthouse.com.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
