Chen Tai Chi Chuan Short Forms

Chen 18 Taijiquan Short Form of Grandmaster Chen Zenglei

18 Movements Short Form

Notes by Michael P. Garofalo, Vancouver, Washington, 2024

Chen Taijiquan Short 18 Form of Grandmaster Chen Zenglei
Webpage by Michael P. Garofalo
Bibliography, links, resources, notes, quotes, videos, lists, photos, comments.

Chen's Taichi for Health and Wellness  By Grandmaster Chen Zenglei. White Bench Publications, Toronto, Canada, 2010, 94 pages. Warmup exercises, and detailed instructions with some photographs for the Chen 18 Short Form. Jack Yan is a collaborator  I like this book quite a bit.  $24.00 in 2/2021. VSCL.

Chen Style Taijiquan Short 18 Form  Performance by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei  UTube, color, 3:38 Minutes, 2007.

The Chen Style Taijiquan for Life Enhancement. Written by Chen Zhenglei and translated by Xu Hailing. Zhongzhou Classic Publishing House, Zhengzhou, China, 2002. Text in English and Chinese.  ISBN: 7534821819.  149 pages. "Describes the principles of Chen style for life enhancement, basic training, Taiji Skills for Preserving Energy and the 18 Forms of the Chen Style. Many photos of Chen Zhenglei doing Exercises and forms. Chen Zhenglei is one of the top Chen stylists in China. Paperback, 149 pages, 5 1/2' by 8'. -  Wayfarer Publications "It covers the content of the health exercise silk reeling video, and is a useful reference,  giving more detail, especially on theory." This is a very expensive out of print book, not worth $150.00. I purchased back in 2004 for $25.00. VSCL.

Essence of Traditional Chen Style 18 Posture Short Form. Instructional DVD by Shifu Jiang Jian-ye.  Color, 87 Minutes. Capital District Tai Chi and Kung Fu Association of New York, 1997.  "Cheng Zheng Lei (the 19th generation of the Chen Family) created this form from the old style of Chen first and second routines.  It includes "silk reeling," fa jin (releasing energy), and balance.  This short form is a good introduction for beginners or for those with little Chen style experience." "A good introductory Chen form that includes silk reeling and fajing movements as well as other characteristics of the Chen first and second routines. Chen Zhenglei, one of today's top Chen stylists, created the form.There is a demonstration of the entire form followed by step-by-step teaching in slow motion with 2-4 views, from the front, back and side. There are front and back demonstrations of each segment (5 to 7 moves each.)  At the end of the teaching there are demonstrations, front and back. There are also excerpts from other Chen forms." - Wayfarer Publications. CDTKA.  VSCL. I use a Cboy V-Zon portable DVD player and this DVD works fine because of the way it is organized.   

 

Chen Style Taijiquan
Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's Short 18 Movements Tai Chi Hand Form, 2001
List of 18 Movements

 

1.     Beginning Posture of Taiji    (Taiji Chu Shi) 

2.     Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds the Mortar   (Jin Gang Dao Dui) 

3.     Lazily Tying One's Coat   (Lan Zha Yi)   

4.     Six Sealing and Four Closing   (Liu Feng Si Bi)    

5.     Single Whip   (Dan Bian)  

6.     White Crane Spreads Its Wings   (Bai E Liang Chi) 

7.     Walk Diagonally   (Xie Xing)    

8.     Brush Knee   (Lou Xi) 

9.     Stepping to Both Sides   (Ao Bu)    

10.   Cover Hands and Strike with Fist   (Yan Shou Gong Quan)    

11.   High Pat on the Horse   (Gao Tan Ma)   

12.   Kick with the Left Heel    (Zuo Deng Yi Gen) 

13.   Jade Maiden Working Her Loom   (Yu Nu Chuan Suo)    

14.   Cloud Hands   (Yun Shou)     

15.   Turn Body with Double Lotus Kick    (Zhuan Shen Shuang Bai Lian) 

16.   Cannon Fist Over the Head   (Dan Tou Pao)    

17.   Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds the Mortar   (Jin Gang Dao Dui)    

18.   Closing Posture of Taiji   (Taiji Shou Shi)      

 

Chen Taijiquan Short 18 Form of Grandmaster Chen Zenglei. By Michael P. Garofalo. Bibliography, links, resources, notes, information, lists, practices, quotes.

List of Movements in Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's Short 18 Form  (1 Page, PDF)  English Only

Text Art: Exhibit 4

Islamic Calligraphy by Mohamed Zakariya

                                      Hypergraphie Infinitesmil by Broutin

Osgard by Margaret Penny

Lettrisme by Lorsakoff

Genius Out of Time by Ibn Muqlah

Concrete Poetry and Text Art Directory and Guide

Exhibits at the Onion Garden

TeXTArt

Graphic Arts: Shape Poems, Concrete Poetry, Lettrisme

Ikigai: A Reason for Living

"A Reason for Living":  Ikigai

Ikigai "entails actions of devoting oneself to pursuits one enjoys and is associated with feelings of accomplishment and fulfillment."
-  Michiko Kumano

Secrets to a Long and Happy Life

1.  Stay active and don't retire
2.  Leave urgency behind and adopt a slower pace of life.
3.  Only eat until you are 80 per cent full.
4.  Surround yourself with good friends.
5.  Get in shape through daily, gentle exercise.
6.  Smile and acknowledge people around you.
7.  Reconnect with nature
8.  Give thanks to anything that brightens our day and makes us feel alive.
9.  Live in the moment.
10.  Follow your Ikigai.  

-  Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles,  Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, 2017.

Advice from Wise Persons: How to Live the Good Life

Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Bundled Up, Quintain Poetry, Volume 7

 3987.

250th Anniversary Fireworks Booming,
     American jets screaming by...
Patriotic speeches for tired ears,
Corporate TV selling booze and lies---
          I sat under a cloud of disappointment.

 

3988.

     She found her son dead
     on the floor beside his bed
with mouth agape and eyes surprised
he a motionless slump of breathless death;
still and cold.      A silver crucifix on his neck.

 

3989.

Time can be squandered, stolen,
     wasted, lost.
Time can be invested, used,
     divided up, and at a cost.

Time cannot be saved.

 

3990.

          The dull knife of Zen
               can't cut, can't slice;
fit for hacking up the weeds
of stifling random thoughts---
understated knots sometime loosening.

 

3991.

     Thigh chest, short breath,
          Tired legs, stiff back,
               Headache, need rest...
     Departing sun, clouds come,
Sitting still --- Hike Done!

 

3992.

     Comets cross clear skies
Fiery streaks flash and fade;
Asteroid showers in the Eastern Night
Remind us of the heavenly strife---
     Burning rocks in final flight.

 

3993.

April comes between March and May,
       somewhere in the Spring Season it prayed.
Verbs telling time in a web of words,
       e.g., just needed 'ed' for a phoneme, say.

Words love to embrace other words,
       sometimes free of any thing anyway.
Nature does not say "April", we do;
       Nature shows 'April' in tenuous ways.

To be human is to speak often
       of years, seasons,
              months, weeks, and days.

 

3994.

While the El Nino storm so stark and bold
Makes the canvas yurt walls rattle, yet hold;
I wrapped myself in blankets against the cold.

I sipped on coffee, and chewed on cold jerky---

Startled by branches Smacking the roof.

 

3995.

"And I realize that this
Transcendent architecture
Lost in the forest where no one passes
Is itself the Net of Indra
The compound infinities of infinities,

The Flower Wreath,
Each universe reflecting
Every other, reflecting
Itself from every other
And the moon the single thought

That populates the Void.
The night grows still more still. No
Sound at all, only a flute
Playing soundlessly in the
Circle of dancing Gopis"

- Kenneth Rexroth, On Flower Wreath Hill

Indra's Net

Gopis

 

3996.

BEWARE: Windy Day

In my backyard
within 70 yards
     are swaying slowly...
19 Douglas Firs
100 feet high.

 

3997.

Time Leaves the Window Behind

Time loosens her sandals in the garden,
she rests among rosemary and rocks.
A breeze turns the pages of the afternoon,
and in each moment the leaves are briefly lifted
before settling back into the long green now.

Time stands on the lawn like statue of steel,
peering through the glass at the lamp’s bright eye.
The rug inside unspools a river of dark thread,
where the chairs are briefly islands in quilts,
and the house is a secret folded into the hours.

 

3998.

My mouth harp slides on my soft lips.
In breath, out breath, call up a tune:
a sweet, a gentle, a lonesome tune.

My melodies flow, then go,
into the emptiness of pure silence so slow.

 

3999.

Owl Time

Motionless quiet on a cedar branch.
Severe eyes survey the edges of shadows.
A light fog rolls over the forest floor.
     A field mouse scurries by a rotting log---
     silent wings slice the bloody night.

 

4000.

Glued to a cellphone.........
     Isolated, alone, eyes on a screen!!
Time lost in a scrolling addiction,
          Mesmerized and entrapped---
Curiosity killed Us hypnotized Rats.

Bundled Up:

Quintains, Tankas, Pentastichs, and Onions

Original Quintain Poetry By Mike Garofalo

Bundled Up, Volume 1
Quintain Poems 1 - 1,000

Bundled Up, Volume 2
Quintain Poems 1,000 - 1,500

Bundled Up, Volume 3
Quintain Poems 1,500 - 2,000

Bundled Up, Volume 4
Quintain Poems 2,000 - 2,500

Bundled Up, Volume 5
Quintain Poems 2,500 - 3,000

Bundled Up, Volume 6
Quintain Poems 3,000 - 3,500

Bundled Up, Volume 7
Quintain Poems 3,600 - 4,000

Bundled Up, Volume 8
Quintain Poems 4,000 - 4,500

 

 

 

Breathe Naturally - Don't Overstrain

Breathing techniques and practices are a vital part of both yoga and qigong practices.  The breath is identified or associated in these popular mind-body practices with "energy" or "life force" or "Force" or "Élan vital" as elaborated in descriptions of the concepts of "Chi (Qi)" in Chinese and "Prana" in Sanskrit.  Air and Breath have since ancient times been essential features of both naturalistic and metaphysical explanations of living processes on earth.  Unquestionably, breathing and physiological respiration and moving oxygen through our blood are all essential to maintaining life.  Yoga and Qigong (Neigong) claim that their special breathing practices improve vitality, strengthen the body, improve immune response, calm a troubled mind, and possibly increase longevity. 

Yoga has many unusual breathing practices.  Breath of Fire - rapid short exhales.  Alternate nostril breathing - long slow breaths in through one nostril only.  Reverse abdominal breathing - tighten the abdominals on the inhale, relax the abdominals on the exhale.  Exhaling through the mouth with the throat constricted.  Breath retention for long periods.  Humming like a bee while exhaling.  All of these practices are called "Pranayama" and are taught in many yoga classes.  

Qigong uses breath control and coordination with movements to increase power, circulate and store energy in channels and reservoirs the mind-body realms, quiet the mind, and improve and expand the spirit-mind.  The main breathing technique encouraged is natural abdominal breathing: relax the abdomen on the inhale, slightly tighten the abdomen on the exhale, and don't hold or exaggerate the breathing cycle.  The more unusual and extreme techniques for breath control found in the Raja, Kundalini and Hatha Yogas from India are not found in Chinese Qigong.  More emphasis is placed in Qigong and Tai Chi on gently coordinating breathing with specific movements, and using one's mind to coordinate and direct the use of the inner life force energy (Qi) for health, well being and enlightenment.  Some contemporary Qigong teachers, of course, have borrowed techniques from modern Iyengar Hatha Yoga and use these in their Qigong (Chi Kung) classes.  

Overall, for the purposes of maintaining good health, I recommend breathing through the nose and out through the nose.  Do not smoke tobacco or other drugs, and avoid polluted air.  I wear a mask when working in dusty, smoky, or otherwise polluted air.  I also cover my mouth and nose when breathing in very cold weather.  Get prompt medical advice and support for serious respiratory problems.  Maintain appropriate cardio-vascular conditioning with aerobic activities like brisk long walks.  Just breathe naturally as needed depending on one's exertion levels.  

As for using breathing techniques or mantras or chants to meditate and attain "insight" or "enlightenment" I would recommend instead the daily reading of challenging and wise books and good conversations with intelligent and decent people.  Certainly, if you need to calm the body and quiet the mind because you are upset then then please sit quietly, close your eyes, breathe slowly and listen to some soothing music.  I find little benefit, for my mind or body, in using the unusual esoteric breathing practices of Hatha Yoga.  Likewise, I benefit more in many ways from walking for four miles rather than by staying still in seated meditation for 1.5 hours.  These are just personal preferences - just one fellow's opinions.  

The Taoist classic, the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, circa 500 BCE, has some verses that indicate that excessive emphasis upon breathing techniques and methods is not recommended.  The Taoist emphasis is more often placed on being natural, softening, being more pliable and flowing like water, not straining, and not interfering.  In particular, let's look a Chapter 55:

"To increase life means inviting evil.
To control the vital breath with the mind means rigidity.
When things have matured they age.
Such control is contrary to the Way.
What is contrary to the Way will soon end."
-  Translated by Jan J. L. Duyvendak, 1954, Chapter 55 

"It is inauspicious to try to improve on life,
And harmful to regulate breathing by conscious control.
To strive for too much results in exhaustion.
These actions are contrary to Tao.
And what is contrary to Tao soon comes to an early end."
-  Translated by Keith Seddon, Chapter 55 

"All devices for inflaming life, and increasing the vital Breath, by mental effort are evil and factitious.
Things become strong, then age.
This is in discord with the Tao, and what is not at one with the Tao soon cometh to an end."
-  Translated by Aleister Crowley, 1918, Chapter 55 

"To help life along is to bring ill portend;
To use mind (hsin) to direct the life breath (ch'i) is called the strong (ch'iang).
When things are full-grown they become old,
It is called not following the Way (Tao).
Not following the Way one dies early."
-  Translated by Ellen Marie Chen, 2000, Chapter 55 

"Increase of life is blessedness, they say,
They call the heart-directed spirit strength,
But these things reach their fullest growth, at length,
And plunge to swift decay;
We call all this contrary to the Tao,
Whatever is contrary to the Tao
Soon will pass away."
-  Translated by Isaac Winter Heysinger, 1903, Chapter 55 

"Trying to extend one's life-span is dangerous and unnatural.
To manipulate one's energy with the mind is a powerful thing
But whoever possesses such strength invariably grows old and withers.
This is not the way of the Tao.
All those who do not follow the Tao will come to an early end."
-  Translated by John R. Mabry, Chapter 55   

"To speed the growth of life is an omen of disaster;
to control the breath by will-power is to overstrain it;
to grow too much is to decay.
All this is against the Dao
and whatever is against the Dao soon dies."
-  Translated by Tom Chilcott, 2005, Chapter 55   

"Fuelling the vital spirits is called disastrous.
Mind impelling the breath is called violence.
The creature that ignores what exists from of old
Is described as going against the Way.
What goes against the Way
Will come to a swift end."
-  Translated by A. S. Kline, Chapter 55 

The Chinese characters for this passage are:
益生曰祥. 
心使氣曰強. 
物壯則老.
謂之不道.
不道早已. 
 
yi shêng yüeh hsiang. 
hsin shih ch'i yüeh ch'iang.
wu chuang tsê lao.
wei chih pu tao.
pu tao tsao yi.
 
心            使                   氣                 
hsin             shih                        ch'i                        
heart/mind   directing/controlling   vital energy/breath  
 
曰              強
yüeh               ch'iang
called/means   overstrain/violent/strong/stark/assertive/aggressive

Summary of The Tick-Tock Tractatus by Mike Garofalo

The Tick-Tock Tractatus (subtitled Speaking of Time: The Poetic Investigations, Part 1) is an ongoing, 285-page digital "WebBook" compiled by poet and philosopher Michael Peter Garofalo. First published in 2010 and updated through 2026, the work is an intellectual and poetic exploration of duration, temporality, and the past-present-future continuum.

Rather than a dense, systematic academic treatise, Garofalo describes it as a "walk through one man's cultivated mind-garden"—a highly structured but fluid collection of poems, philosophical remarks, and aphorisms.

Here is a summary of its core components, structure, and themes:

1. Structure and Style

• The Quintain Form: The primary poetic engine of the book is the quintain (five-line poem). Garofalo curated these verses from his massive multi-volume poetry project, Bundled Up.
• The "Onions": Interspersed among the poems are short, sharp, one-liner insights, quips, and gardening-themed aphorisms that Garofalo calls "Onions".
• 16 Topical Portals: The text does not follow a linear narrative. Instead, it organizes its reflections into 16 distinct thematic categories (or "portals"), including Time, Past, Present, Future, Passing, Psychology, Language, Silence, Beauty, Social, Philosophy, and Eternity.
• The Wittgenstein Connection: The title is a playful, lyrical nod to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. However, whereas Wittgenstein's Tractatus focused on logic and bypassed the concept of time, Garofalo’s Tractatus deals exclusively with temporality, using a similar decimal-style numbering system (e.g., 1.1, 1.1.1) to catalog his thoughts.

2. Key Philosophical Themes

Space, Motion, and Science

Garofalo continuously contrasts the mechanical tracking of time against the cosmos. He juxtaposes the rigid, ticking grid of human clocks and calendars against the fluid physics of thermodynamics (entropy), the rotation of the Earth, and quantum considerations.

"Time requires Energy." (BU3186)

The Zen of the "Now"

Deeply influenced by Daoist and Zen philosophies, the text repeatedly returns to the concept of the present moment (the Now). Garofalo treats the present as the only coordinate that requires no compass. He emphasizes finding eternity within immediate sensory experiences—such as walking in the woods, watching bees, or gardening.

The Illusion of Permanence & Aging

A central emotional anchor of the book is human mortality and the physical reality of aging. Garofalo balances cosmic vastness against the finite, fragile nature of human life. He reflects on the steady, eroding march of time on the human body, the fading of memory, and the inevitability of death, viewing time as a force that "eats everything".

Language and "Silence"

Garofalo investigates how words construct our sense of time. He suggests that while language allows us to map the past and plan the future, it is ultimately limited. The book heavily values silence—not as an absence of thought, but as a deliberate hesitation to absorb the wordless, raw reality of "Being".

3. The Central Metaphor: The Garden

As a lifelong gardener, Garofalo uses the garden as his ultimate laboratory for understanding time. Soil, seeds, seasonal decay, and springtime renewal serve as practical evidence of temporal change. In his view, "gardeners learn to live in worm time, bee time, and seed time"—aligning human awareness away from the artificial "tick-tock" of the clock and back toward natural, cyclical duration.

The Tick-Tock Tractatus: Speaking of Time by Michael Peter Garofalo is a large, freely available webbook that investigates the idea of time through poetry, philosophy, quotations, and short reflective prose. It is organized in a style loosely inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus, but instead of presenting a strict logical system, it gathers hundreds of observations and quintain poems from many perspectives.

Its central themes include:

• Time as lived experience: Time is treated not merely as something measured by clocks, but as something experienced through memory, anticipation, aging, movement, work, seasons, and everyday life.
• Many perspectives: The book explores time through sixteen broad topics, including the past, present, future, psychology, language, silence, beauty, ethics, history, and eternity. Rather than arguing for one theory, it accumulates many viewpoints.
• Poetry as inquiry: Garofalo uses his characteristic five-line quintains as philosophical examples. The poems are intended to illustrate ideas and evoke reflection rather than prove conclusions.
• Language and philosophy: Influenced by Wittgenstein, the work emphasizes that how we talk about time shapes how we understand it. Many sections examine the meanings, metaphors, and everyday uses of time-related language.
• Interdisciplinary approach: The book draws on philosophy, physics, psychology, literature, Taoism, Buddhism, and scientific writings on time, weaving these together with original poems and extensive references.

Overall, The Tick-Tock Tractatus is best understood as a lyrical philosophical exploration of time. Rather than presenting a single doctrine, it invites readers to think about time from many angles through poetry, aphorisms, quotations, and philosophical reflection.

 

Shifu Miao Zhang's Parables

Michael P. Garofalo writes extensively about a fictional Daoist master who carries a cane, whom he named Shifu Miao Zhang. Garofalo explicitly translates Shifu Miao Zhang's title as the "Teacher with the Magical (Wondrous) Staff".

Through a series of philosophical parables, Garofalo uses Shifu Miao Zhang and his cane to engage in witty debates with famous historical Zen Masters like Hakuin, Zhaozhou, and Yunmen. True to Garofalo's grounded, pragmatic philosophy, the master's cane is repeatedly used to cut through abstract religious dogma and bring high-minded koans back down to practical reality.

Here are some of the most notable ways Shifu Miao Zhang uses his cane in Garofalo's writings:

• Answering Famous Koans: When the legendary Zen Master Hakuin asks him, "What is the sound of one hand?", Miao Zhang simply picks up his beautiful cane and taps it three times on the floor.
• Practicality over Magic: When a man with a magical sword challenges him, asking what his crooked staff can do, Miao Zhang replies that it enabled his wobbly legs to walk to work each day so he could earn enough money to pay for poor women and children to safely ride a ferry boat.
• Locating the Divine: When asked where the Tao is to be found, Miao Zhang replies, "There is no place my cane or my mind goes or rests where the Tao cannot be found".
• Rejecting Pretentious Poetry: When Master Ummon attempts to impress him with elaborate, mystical poetry about his own staff leaping to the Eighth Heaven, Miao Zhang bluntly responds, "Ummon your poetry is lovely, but my gnarled cane cannot hear you".
• Teaching Impermanence: When asked where "the One" returns, he playfully remarks that last week his cane fell off a mountain and was lost, yesterday it was burned to nothing, and today it "is just an ordinary wood cane". In another exchange, he notes that while yesterday his cane was a walking stick, tomorrow "it may become firewood, crackling in the flames".
• Ending Arguments: When challenged to a debate where he will be whacked with a staff whether he speaks or remains silent, Miao Zhang stands up, lifts his cane in defense, insults the other masters' staffs, and simply announces, "I am leaving now to take my evening walk. Goodbye".

Ultimately, Garofalo uses the master and his cane as a reflection of his own "secular nature mysticism." As Miao Zhang explains in one of the parables, "My cane is ordinary, so it walks with me along the Watercourse Way". In another poem, Garofalo writes from the perspective of a master who, when asked a deep philosophical question about a mountain, simply lifts his cane, places it in his mouth, and says absolutely nothing.

Reflections on Biology

 I read the fascinating book "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution" (2010) by Richard Dawkins.  Scientific reasoning, fact finding, predictive powers, logic, confirmed theories, the scientific community, documentation, research, analysis, pure and applied science, testing ... are subjects that always attract my keen attention.  I have read a number of books by Professor Dawkins - a first rate thinker and writer.  He is also an influential contemporary atheist, and I share is views on religion.  

The human body is over 60% water. 

The typical adult human body consists of about 60 trillion cells (6x10^13). 

There are about 60 trillion atoms in a human cell.

Inside the nucleus of each cell are the DNA genetic
codes that govern growth, structure, and reproduction.
As these DNA strands are modified or reshuffled
during millions of reproductive cycles then variations occur over time.

The earthly timeline is measured in hundreds of thousands
of millions of years for these variations to occur
and some to survive and multiply.

Fascinating!
Amazing!
Complex!

Cape Lookout Yurt Camping/Retreat

Repeat Post from February, 2022:

This is my second Yurt Camping trip this year to Cape Lookout State Park in Northwestern Coastal Oregon, about 15 miles west of Tillamook.  Here is a post from my last trip on February 7, 2022.  

I will add photos and comments about my current trip on October 10,2022, next Friday 10/14, after I return home to my computer and an Internet connection.  Therefore, no blog posts until 10/14.  

Report from October 10, 2022:

Nice paved campground areas for the solo practice of Chen Taijiquan.  
Weather expected: Low of 47F, High of 65F, light winds, overcast in morning and sunny in afternoon, no rain predicted.  
I have an injured right thumb and hand, kept in a large black support brace (soft cast).  This slows my ability to move camping support items.  No fractures per Xrays, and orthopedic physical therapy scheduled in two weeks.  Lots of fumbling when handling things.
Driving route the same as in last February.  

Now Reading:

"The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World."  By Lincoln Paine.  Vintage Books, 2013, 744 pages, extensive notes, bibliography, and index.  VSCL.

"Waves and Beaches: The Powerful Dynamics of Sea and Coast."  By Willard Bascom and Kim McCoy.  Patagonia, 1964 and 2020, 401 pages, index.  VSCL. 

"Therapy of Desire: by Martha Nussbaum.  Hellenistic Ethics: Aristotle, Epicureans, Skeptics, and Stoics.

Chen Taijiquan Books

Report from February 7, 2022:

I drove from Vancouver, through Portland, out west by Beaverton and Hillsboro, and out into the farmlands and vineyards near Banks, Oregon.  From Banks, on Oregon Road 26, I drove the 50 miles through the coastal mountains and the Tillamook State Forest.  The road has many small homes along its course west up along Gales Creek up to the 1,500 foot summit, and then down the rugged Wilson River Canyon to the Tillamook Valley.  There are an astounding number white trunked deciduous trees (alders, poplars) along this impressive Wilson River Canyon.  

It is 100 miles from my home in Vancouver to Cape Lookout State Park.    

I drove 6 miles west out on Bayocean Road to where it dead ends because of rock slides.  The road goes along the southwest side of Tillamook Bay.  I did not drive out on the gravel Bayocean Dike Road all the way to the south jetty of Tillamook Bay.  It was very foggy at this time.  Dramatic!!  Nobody out and about today ... deserted foggy Bay waters rising and falling twice a day.  

Very little traffic today from Banks to Cape Lookout State Park.  How pleasant a drive for sightseeing.  

The fog lifted in the afternoon over low tide at Netarts Bay.

Here are some photographs by me from this Cape Lookout Trip:

The State Park campground is 6 miles from the village of Netarts, and 11 miles from downtown Tillamook. 

In the last two decades, I have camped in a Yurt at Cape Lookout State Park twice before, and once in a tent.  There are 210 campsites and 13 Yurts here.  Check in at 4:00 pm, and checkout at 10 am.  Most of the campground was closed, only Loop C was open.  All the Yurts were used, and about 15 trailers/RVs were in the campground.  

There are many hiking trails in the Park in the Sitka Spruce forest.  Also, nice roads for bicycling and walking (especially since so few people were here).  There are many miles of sandy beach and surf to walk along because the Park is on the long sand spit that creates the west side of shallow Netarts Bay.  All the steep hills to the east of the Park are heavily forested.  

There is considerable logging in the mountains surrounding the Tillamook Valley.  As is true for all the Oregon and Washington coastal mountain ranges.  

Sand Spit of Netarts Bay
Looking North
From the Internet

Since there will be lots of darkness and probably some rain, a winter coastal solo camper needs books to read, DVDs or CDs to use on a laptop, ebooks.  There was decent smart cellphone T-Mobile access to the Internet.

I brought my Kindle ebook reader, my HP laptop computer with software such as my laptop Kindle ebook reader, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop, and the Microsoft 365 Suite.  Brought my Canon SX740 camera and cellphone.  

In the next two weeks I will be reading the two following books. 

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies. By Rob Sylvan.  VSCL, my book.  

The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Year's Residence in Washington Territory.  By James G. Swan.  Introduction by Norman H. Clark.  University of Washington, 1857, 1969, 1999.  429 pages.  FVRL library book.  

Here is some additional information about the Cape Lookout Area: Netarts Bay, Cape Lookout State Park, Tillamook, Tillamook Bay.

Cape Lookout State Park     Images   Many options for walking and hiking in this part of the rugged Oregon coastline. 

Cape Lookout State Park

Four Days in Grayland   By Michael P. Garofalo.   Camping and travel adventures in the Pacific Northwest. 

Yurt Camping in the Coastal Northwest     By Michael P. Garofalo

Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint

Clay Myers State Natural Area

Bob Straub State Park

Cape Lookout Hiking Trail

Tillamook Coast Visitors Guide

North Coast Food Trail

Munson Creek Falls State Natural Site

Sand Lake Recreation Area

Three Capes Scenic Loop

Pacific City  Population 1,000

Northwest Coastal Oregon Travel Guide: Astoria to Cape Lookout.  By Mike Garofalo.  

Netarts, Oregon   Population 744   Images   Unincorporated community.   On Oregon 131, Trees to the Sea Highway.  Off of US 101. 

"Netarts is a small community situated at the mouth of Netarts Bay, just south of Oceanside. Found amid lush coastal rainforest, Netarts, in the language of the local Tillamook tribe, means “near the water.”  On the shore of Netarts Bay, the town is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a long, club-shaped stretch of forested sand called Netarts Spit. This was once the earliest settlement site of the Tillamook Indians. Inside the bay, at low tide, many search for different varieties of clam, and a nearby marina offers boat and crab pot rentals. Nearby Cape Lookout State Park, on the opposite shore of Netarts Bay, has tent camping, yurts, cabins, and a rewarding hike to a great, panoramic vista for whale watching."
-  Netarts Bay Travel
 

Netarts - Cafes

Netarts Bay 

Netarts Bay Trip Advisor

Netarts Bay Travel

General History of the Netarts Bay Area, By William Hawkins, 1994  PDF 

Where to Clam and Crab in Netarts Bay  By Oregon Fish and Game Department  Includes Map

Netarts Travel

Naveen's Bayside Market and Deli in Netarts

Netarts - Tillamook Coast

The Schooner Restaurant and Lounge in Netarts  Very good meals!  

 

Netarts Bay Geology

Netarts Bay, at maximum high tide, is 9 feet deep on the average. 

Beach Sand Composition Geology

Three Arch Rocks

Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge

Zeolites of Tillamook Seashore

Northwest Coast: A Natural History.  By Stewart T. Schultz.  Portland, Timber Press, 1990, index, bibliography, 389 pages.  VSCL. 

"Netarts Bay is an estuarine bay on the northern Oregon Coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, located about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Tillamook. The unincorporated community of Netarts is located on the north end of the bay and Netarts Bay Shellfish Preserve, managed by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is located on the south side of the bay.[1] The sand spit on the west side of Netarts bay is part of Cape Lookout State Park.  The bay is approximately 5 by 1.5 miles (8.0 by 2.4 km) and totals 2,325 acres (9.41 km2) in area, making it Oregon's seventh largest bay.[2] Of that, 812 acres (3.29 km2) are permanently submerged—the balance of 1,513 acres (6.12 km2) is intertidal land.[2] It experiences a maximum tidal range of 9 feet (3 m).  The bay is part of a watershed of 13 square miles (34 km2)[2] that is fed by at least 16 small creeks. From north to south, there is Fall Creek, Hodgdon Creek, O'Hara Creek, Rice Creek, two unnamed creeks, Yager Creek, three unnamed creeks, Whiskey Creek, an unnamed creek, Austin Creek, two unnamed creeks, and Jackson Creek."
- Netarts Bay 

 

"Oregon is blessed with the vision of former Governor Oswald West who legislated that all of Oregon’s coastline be accessible to everyone. This was remarkable foresight given the state’s sparse population in 1911. More than 150 years later we appreciate his commitment to beauty beholden to all."

"Another common question about our sandy beach is, “Why does sand squeak when you walk on it?” The answer is that the music is caused by friction from the sand grains rubbing against each other as we apply weight through our footsteps as we scoot our feet through the sand. However, there are certain conditions to be met. The type of sand that squeaks is usually a silicate, a feldspar, or a carbonate, the grains must be rounded (no sharp corners or edges), they should be around 300 micrometers in diameter, and they squeak best when they are dry (moisture on the grains acts as a lubricant, decreasing the friction)."
-  Jim Young, Oceanside, Oregon