NORTHWEST COAST Pt.5

Thanks for returning to my travelogue!  This post is actually the second half of my previous entry about FORKS, WA.  I'll be showing you SECOND BEACH.

I wasn't sure I would make the effort to go to SECOND BEACH, after seeing all the FOG that covered everything that morning at RIALTO BEACH.  But as I'm driving back to nearby LA PUSH (part of the Quileute Indian Reservation)...the edge of the fog-bank was ending right in front of me...BLUE SKIES ahead!

The trek to SECOND BEACH is a bit of a walk...3/4 of a mile up and down a steep trail.  But it was one of the best parts about the experience!  As you can see in the photo below, the fog actually made the rich green forests even more magical, as the particles were lit up by the sun-light.  (And a side-note to the "Twilight" fans...this is supposed to be the area that Jacob Black and the Quileute tribe's shape-shifting wolves would meet!)

As you get near the beach, the trail gets very steep...and the muddy "steps" aren't much help.  Below left is the top view...then the same part of the trail looking back up the hill.

Once I was on the beach, the fog was, again, thick as pea soup...and there were the same giant, dead tree trunks everywhere.

About an hour after I sat down to begin to draw the huge rock below (see the sketch in Part 1 of this series), something wonderful began to happen right before my eyes! I started noticing details in the distance as the fog was burning off...HUGE rocks appearing, that I didn't even know were right in front of me!  It was SO cool to see!  For the next hour or so, I'd sketch a little, run around with my camera...sketch more.  Before long, the sun was brightly shining on the beach!

I didn't have much time to enjoy the sunlight, as it was now at the end of a very long day.  Many photographers began to arrive to get photos of the setting sun.  I decided that I would stick around and do the same.

This last photo is a true "Twilight Moment"!  The fading sunset gave just barely enough illumination for me to see the path, on my walk through the woods to get back to my rental car.  I had not brought a flashlight, so occasionally I would use my camera's flash to see a bit farther up the trail.  I had taken a few photos along the way, and later that night was reviewing them back in my motel room.

I noticed something white in the upper corner of one of the shots...when I zoomed in...it was a BAT flying over my head!!!  (Yep...still in vampire territory!!)

That's it for this time...next on the list:  RUBY BEACH!