The end of the world is often exaggerated, even in Port Townsend.
But the place known as "End of the World" to generations of local kids, a U.S. Army World War II era concrete observation post, is …
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On Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 another large chunk of sand and debris tumbled to the beach below “End of the World,” a bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the edge of Port Townsend. Photo by Scott Wilson
“End of the World,” also called “Land’s End,” is a small City of Port Townsend park on a high bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the end of Elmira Street, west of North Beach. A large chunk of bluff and trees fell an estimated 275 feet to the beach last month, and other pieces continue to fall, prompting city officials to close the popular site. This photo was taken Oct. 7, 2013. Photo by Steven Johnson
This is the "End of the World" concrete casement as seen from the beach, courtesy of a zoom lens. Note how the concrete is becoming more exposed. Similar erosion has toppled concrete at Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island, and also threatens several locations at nearby Fort Worden State Park. Photo by Steven Johnson
While the U.S. Army's intent was camouflage, modern-day visitors to the bluff-top observation post the military closed in the 1950s are all about loud colors. Photo by Steven Johnson
This is the entrance to the underground casement that opened in 1941 as a secondary observation post for a U.S. Army Coast Artillery gun battery at Fort Worden. Photo by Steven Johnson
There is a trail that goes from the Strait of Juan de Fuca beach up and over the tangled tree mass at the base of the slide, a route people on beach walks use. The land at far right background is McCurdy Point. Photo by Steven Johnson
Two rooms with a view, two rooms with walls covered with colorful graffiti. This Tibbals Hill observation position from 1941 held spotting equipment for artillery range finders connected to a cannon battery at nearby Fort Worden. Photo by Steven Johnson
Do not try this at home – standing on the edge next to observation post, looking down at the base of the major slide. Photo by Steven Johnson
Here is a temporary sign placed by the City of Port Townsend, responsible for the small park on which the old U.S. Army observation post sits near the end of Elmira Street, to deter people from getting too close to the bluff's edge. Natural erosion is undermining many portions of the bluff. Photo by Steven Johnson
This is the base of the "End of the World" slide, with a tangle of trees, dirt and rocks that blocks beach walkers, as photographed Oct. 7, 2013. At low tide, it is possible to go around the tangle; otherwise, a trail has been made up and over the mess. However, as the video taken Oct. 13 shows, the crossing is in the path of other landslides. Photo by Steven Johnson
This scene is taken from the trail crossing the existing slide, and looks up at a section of bluff that nearly a week later, partially collapsed, as caught on Leader video. Photo by Steven Johnson
This view taken Oct. 7, 2013 is on the east side of the big slide near what locals know as the "End of the World" bluff viewpoint overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The slide in the Oct. 13 video occurred in a section near the "green" area. The old Army observation post is uphill from the cluster of slope trees at right. Photo by Steven Johnson
The end of the world is often exaggerated, even in Port Townsend.
But the place known as "End of the World" to generations of local kids, a U.S. Army World War II era concrete observation post, is still with us.
For now. But the bluff nearby is falling away, a few chunks at a time.
The sandy bluff below the war relic has substantially collapsed in the last few months, with an especially large chunk including several trees falling last month to the beach some 275 feet below. Since, there have been continuing small slides and large chunks falling away, prompting City of Port Townsend officials to close the bluff-top site with signage and danger tape.
On Sunday, Oct. 13 at about 6 p.m., the collapse of another part of the bluff was captured on video by a Leader reporter who happened to be walking the beach. Port Townsend resident Kellie Henwood was on the beach at the time and had just crossed the section where the landslide, seconds later, fell. Her friend Charles Steurer was on the other side of the landslide. Neither was hurt, and both said it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen.
POPULAR SPOT
“End of the World” is the popular term for the one-acre city park officially known as Elmira Street Park, for its location at the end of Elmira Street. Young people for many decades have tread the short trail to the old observation post to watch sunsets and party, thrilling at the seaside high bluff that marked the so-called End of the World. Other residents have used it as a launching point for various forms of debris, including sofas, bicycles and much, much more.
Some of that material is now cascading to the beach along with the sand and dirt.
On the beach, the slide has become a roadblock for people who walk the beach west from North Beach, or east from Cape George, although the walk is fully accessible at low tide.
Rick Sepler, Port Townsend’s development services director who oversees city parks, said the park is undeveloped and was obtained by the city through a swap with neighboring landowners in 1994.
As soon as the city was notified of the landslide, Sepler said, city crews put up signage and fencing to keep people away from the edge.
“We’re aware of it, have taped it, signed it and have temporarily closed it,” Sepler said. “We’ll look at it closer and if it’s a risk to the public, we’ll literally have to fence it off.”
Sepler said the erosion is inevitable and would be almost impossible to control.
“It is typical of many marine bluffs,” he said. “They tend to fracture, have big sloughs, then erode 4 to 6 inches per year, depending on exposure. Eventually, they are trying to go back to 45 degrees, and they’ll keep at it.”
Sepler, who had two Port Townsend High School teenagers of his own, knows the fondness locals have for End of the World. He is less fond of people dumping old furniture there.
“We’ve had a longstanding problem of people hurling couches off there,” he said. “Maybe one day that will be an Olympic event.”
TOP SECRET
According to records at the Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum at Fort Worden State Park, the seacoast fortification was built in 1940 as part of the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound, Fort Worden. Designated Tibbals Hill Base end station, it was officially transferred into active service on April 8, 1941, according to "completed works" documents at the non-profit museum. Made of reinforced concrete and covered with earth, the three-room observation post was classified (secret, at the time) as being semi-splinterproof, dug-in with a rear entrance. From the water, it would be conspicuous at 1,000 yards.
Just behind the concrete structure, there was a separate power plant; its foundation is still visible.
The two observation rooms are 9 feet by 9 feet in size with 7-foot ceilings.
Tibbals Hill was a secondary station for Battery Tolles B – the four-pit, 6 inch cannon battery facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca where the most Fort Worden State Park weddings have been performed (and most dogs wandered over the bluff).
There is another old Coast Artillery position nearer McCurdy Point. This was a communication cable installation, connecting the Olympic Peninsula and the U.S. military with Vancouver Island and the Canadian military.
(Staff Writer Scott Wilson contributed to this story).
