Washington Coast Vistas

I've been hanging on the Washington coast for the past three days. It's fairly quiet in most places; there are small resort towns, and some of the most scenic spots are within Olympic National Park. Some beaches are vast and wide; you can drive on them. (though I didn't risk my Solara, obviously; this shot was taken on hard sand at the landward edge of Ocean City beach, near Hoquiam).

The beach here is huge at low tide. The sand surface is undulating in the tidal zone, and water lingers until the next high tide. The morning light accentuated the coutours.

This is a small scale shot...from the top to the bottom of the pic is only about ten feet.

Farther north, in Olympic National Park, the beaches are black sand, the scene is wild, and the ocean pounds majestically against the offshore rocks.

Inland in the park, the Hoh River runs strongly through the Olympics, turquoise with glacial melt. The large tree trunks on the gravel bars have been uprooted by previous floods. Eventually, more floods will carry them to the sea where they will join the vast piles of driftwood on the beaches. This was a beautiful spot. I engaged in horizontal slotation here and achieved Advanced Vegetative State. Wonderful!