START BRANDISHING SOME shovels.
Digging is officially on at four of five ocean beaches this weekend.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Wednesday that clams at Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks and Kalaloch are all safe to eat.
The announcement comes a little less than a week after the state was forced to cancel harvest dates at Long Beach due to elevated levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) found in clams collected from there.
PSP is a marine toxin found in certain types of algae that can cause paralysis and even death if consumed in sufficient quantities.
Additional tests were conducted this week to determine whether or not it was safe to continue with evening digs at the other four beaches, and the samples proved to be safe.
“We’re pleased that we can move forward with digs at these four beaches,” state coastal shellfish manager Dan Ayres said in a news release.
Twin Harbors will have evening digs today through Sunday, Copalis and Mocrocks on Friday through Sunday and Kalaloch on Saturday and Sunday.
Don’t expect a sunny afternoon at the beach, however. Weather reports predict rainfall each of the next four days, and the surf reports are none too promising either.
The surf is expected to taper off by Sunday’s dig, when 11-foot swells are expected to hit the beach at 13-second intervals. So perhaps that will be the best day to dig.
It is always best to begin digging at least one hour before low tide. Here are the low tides for this weekend:
• Today — -1.1 feet at 5:13 p.m.
• Friday — -1.5 feet at 5:58 p.m.
• Saturday — -1.5 feet at 6:41 p.m.
• Sunday — -1.2 feet at 7:23 p.m.
For more information on razor clams, visit http://tinyurl.com/oyekj.
Ski group
Now that Hurricane Ridge Road is out of commission for the next six weeks, downhill skiers have little choice but to head elsewhere.
Luckily, there is a group on the Peninsula that organizes outings to the I-5 slopes just about every week: the Olympic Peninsula Ski Network.
The group will hold a meeting at the North Olympic Library System’s Port Angeles Branch Meeting Room next Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. to discuss future outings to the Cascades.
The Port Angeles branch is located at 2210 S. Peabody St.
Most of the Ski Network’s organized trips, designed at achieving cheaper group rates and transportation for skiers, have been weekday excursions.
Yet with the current closure of Hurricane Ridge Road, the group is looking at putting together some trips during the weekend.
For more information, contact Margaret Low at 360-417-5503 or mar2low@olympus.net.
Sportsmen’s show
Forget about the event’s need to cling to specific gender roles.
The Washington Sportsmen’s Show is the pre-eminent gathering of its kind in the state.
And it’s going on now at the Puyallup Fair and Events Center through Sunday.
More than 245 hours of free presentations by top experts are scheduled throughout the five-day event.
That includes on-water seminars in a 3,000-gallon warm water demo tank as well as some at a 10,000-gallon indoor steelhead river.
There will also be information on hunting, sporting dogs and just about everything else outdoors.
For more information on the event, visit www.otshows.com.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays.
