Saturday, December 1, 2012

Second Beach Light

The rain and clouds of autumn on the Olympic Peninsula make it a guessing game when to go out and attempt to capture the beauty of the coast between storm fronts. At our cabin at Lake Crescent, there is no internet access, so those fronts are even more elusive. Weather can also vary quite a bit location to location, and change in a matter of an hour.

The main players at Second Beach are the sea stacks, from large tree covered mini islands to just the bare rock towers, and the very long slope of beach. At very low tides, you can walk nearly a 1/4 mile from shore. Sunset is most dramatic. At this time of year, one can be quite alone here.

The north end of the beach, with it's famous sea stack, is a beautiful and active area. Luck was with me, for after searching for sea otters earlier this year, two appeared in this channel. I was away from my camera, and they disappeared in minutes after spotting me. The last photo was taken just before leaving.

 Last Light
 Afterglow and Cirrus Monster
Fading light on the beach