Journeys: Pacific Coast - Highway 101

     I jerked awake. Pale morning light was just illuminating the trees around my truck. I turned the key and fired up the engine breaking the silence of the dense forest around me. It was four miles of winding dirt road to the top of Mount Walker on the eastern edge of the Olympic Peninsula. I was searching for a good angle for a sunrise photograph. The summit of Mount Walker had two lookouts. Neither provided the view that I needed for the sunrise. Disappointed I quickly and recklessly drove down the mountain and south on Highway 101. I found a pull out by the water of Dabob Bay and took a few photos of the sunrise. Not the sunrise over a distant Seattle I wanted, but it was still beautiful to watch the sun wake the world up.

Sunrise over Dabob Bay, WA.

     Today I would start the meat and potatoes of the road trip, driving Highway 101. From Mount Walker I would drive along the north coast to Neah Bay. From Neah Bay I would turn south and search for scenery on the west coast. I had grown accustomed to the sweeping valleys and mountain ranges of Montana and was hampered by the dense vegetation that choked either side of the highway as I drove along. The occasional clear cut would provide the narrowest of vistas. The first town of note I came to was Port Angeles. I had this vision in my head that I would be hopping from quaint fishing town to quaint fishing town, each perched on a cliffy cove overlooking the crashing sea. Towns peppered with pastel houses clustered on rocks and beaches where fishing boats motored back and forth. Port Angeles was not the town I sought. It was industrial and unappealing. After Port Angeles I passed a road sign for Crescent Bay and Salt Creek and decided to pull off to investigate. Crescent Bay was shaped in an appealing crescent, obviously, and there was a nice sea stack on the east side. I hiked around for a bit taking a few photographs then returned to my truck. Exhausted from poor sleep the night before I unintentionally fell asleep in the driver's seat while looking at a road map. I awoke a full two hours later. The parking lot had been empty when I arrived, but now it was full and there were many people out walking. I finally had some breakfast on my tailgate and finished looking at the road map. A man parked beside me agreed that I should head to Neah Bay.

     It was a twisting slow drive. The route actually leaves Highway 101 for 112 which brings you to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery, the westernmost point in the contiguous 48 states. As I was driving 112 overlooking the north coast I again had visions of a quaint fishing village to be found in Neah Bay. Although there were fishing boats, all docked and lazily bobbing, Neah Bay was run down. What caught my eye the most were all the handmade "don't do meth, booze, or teen pregnancy" signs tacked up on light poles. I stopped in at the Makah Tribe's museum and purchased a recreation permit so that I could visit and hike to Cape Flattery. If I had been disappointed by the lack of quaint fishing towns along the north coast Cape Flattery was the diamond in the rough. The hike was short and the view breathtaking. The cape ended at the sea in steep and dramatic cliffs with waves crashing against the rocking releasing hollow booms. My adventurous side wanted to find a way to the bottom of the sea cliffs, but I stayed on the trail and took photos from the designated view points.

Looking south from Cape Flattery.

Sea caves at Cape Flattery.

     Back in the parking lot I cooked lunch on my tailgate and planned my next move. I still was not sure of any specific destinations on the coast and decided I would drive down to Forks and find a place to ask for information. Other than being the home of the Twilight novels, Forks is just another non-quaint coastal town. They did have a grocery store and an Ace Hardware store where I stopped in to talk to one of the cashiers about the Forks area. Nathan was very helpful and pointed me to the first, second, and third, beaches of La Push and Rialto beach of Mora. It was only about one hour until the golden hour and the sunset and I decided to drive to the beaches of La Push. 

HDR sunset at First Beach, La Push, WA.

     On the way I discovered that the third and second beaches required hiking and I did not think I could make the hikes before the sunset. I drove down to first beach, which required no hiking, and parked next to an old man looking for whales with a pair of binoculars. The man suggested I hike north from Rialto Beach the following day. I tiptoed around on the jetty guarding First Beach looking for good angles. A large island and a few sea stacks just off of the beach providing a nice foreground for a Pacific sunset. A seal surfaced beside the jetty and snorted at me. The seal continued to play by the jetty and I continued to look for that magical angle. Satisfied, I returned to my truck and ate some food while preparing my gear and waiting for the sun to sink further. The sun was nearing the horizon, but had yet to really blaze the sky with color. I returned to the jetty and composed a few shots for an HDR showing the green seaweed on the rock in the foreground. I climbed back up to my tripod at the top of the jetty and bumped into another photographer. He was an older gentleman staying in a nearby RV park. We chatted and snapped photos. The sunset was gorgeous and I was starting to really like the coast despite the salty air. With the sun asleep I realized I still had no place to sleep. Skunked at Rialto Beach, which had obvious "No Camping" signage I settled for a random trailhead somewhere in further inland in Olympic National park.