King Tides at Cape Disappointment in Washington

King Tides at Cape Disappointment.

"King Tides" is a non-scientific term used to describe higher than average high tides.  In Washington, these typically happen during the winter months of November, December and January for a three-day period.  They are the result of the gravitational forces of the sun and moon basically playing "Tug-of-war".  They typically occur during a full moon and can be further escalated by storms.

In my state of Washington, these typically occur in the winter months of November, December and January, and for a period of three days each.

King Tides at Cape Disappointment.

The year I visited Waikiki Beach at Cape Disappointment for the first time and was not disappointed!

This might be the most iconic place to photograph the tides in Washington despite it's remoteness, near the small town of Ilwaco.  The park offers camping, hiking and access to wild beaches not typical of Washington's southern coast.  It's about a 3 hour drive from the Seattle area, and is actually much closer Portland, OR!

Watching and photographing the tides is an incredible experience.  Get there early for the full experience.  Seeing the surf a few hours before high tide and witnessing it build to a crescendo is the exhilarating experience that one brings home with them and tells stories about!

King Tides at Cape Disappointment.

Photographer Tips:  While the tides are always exhilarating, the best images are captured when the water is backlit to bring out the greens.  This doesn't happen under heavy clouds.  Plan your trip when you suspect you will see some partial sun or at least diffused light.

Telephoto lenses work the best here.  I enjoyed my 70-200mm lens the most.  A stronger lens could capture the details of the waves up close.

Don't forget to give your camera a break and just enjoy the beauty and raw energy of the surf.  Especially near the high tide when the water is churning every which way.  It was during this incredible time that I heard an interesting "chirp" and noticed it wasn't a bird, but rather a sea otter swimming back and forth on its back "people watching"!  How was he staying afloat?!!

For more images of the Washington coast, feel free to visit my Washington Coast Gallery.

As always, thanks for looking.  Hope to see you at the coast?

Palouse Falls, the Official State Waterfall of Washington State!

Palouse Falls is a magnificent waterfall located along the Palouse River in the southwest region of Washington State, about 4 miles upstream from its confluence with the Snake River.  It resides in Palouse Falls State Park, a park that provides full viewing access to the falls from a viewing platform and a paved path along the canyon rim.

The falls are 198 feet in height, and owe their history to the great Missoula Floods that swept across the Columbia River Plateau periodically.  Previously, the river flowed through the Washtucna Coulee to the Columbia River.  This coulee is now dry.  During the Pleistocene epoch, the Missoula Floods diverted the river over the south valley wall of the original canyon, channeling a new course to the Snake River, and creating Palouse Falls in the process.

The waterfall seems to be rapidly gaining in popularity in recent years.  A primitive road full of pot holes used to access the park.  That road has been graded and oiled now, and RVs and tour buses can be commonly seen in the parking lot.  Thanks to some Washtucna elementary school students who lobbied the state legislature, Palouse Falls became the official state waterfall of Washington State earlier this year – February 12, 2014 to be exact.  This will surely pick the curiosity of Washington residents who have not yet visited this waterfall.

 I find the waterfall is best viewed and photographed in the spring time when water volume is at its peak – April and May are ideal.  Early May brings the addition of wildflowers to the area.  Snakes are also common beginning in mid-April or so (be careful!).  By summer the falls can be but a trickle in comparison.

On sunny spring days, a beautiful rainbow forms at the base of the waterfall in mid afternoon.  This is my favorite time to photograph the falls.  You can position the rainbow where you wish simply by changing your vantage point.  Of course, the rainbow also moves as the angle of the sun changes.  Definitely bring a polarizing filter to capture the vibrant colors of this light spectrum.

If you are fortunate to have interesting clouds in the sky in the morning or evening, you’ll have a great opportunity to compose a panoramic image encompassing the waterfall, entire pool and even the canyon downstream if you choose.  In order to capture the full dynamic range, you will need to bring split neutral density filters for this, shoot HDR, or employ the method of stacking images in Photoshop.

I attempted some night photography during my last visit in April, but there was too much light pollution nearby to pull this off.  I would love to hear if anyone has been successful with this.

Finally, don't forget to check out the periodic trains, best viewed from the bridge before the parking lot.  The trains run pretty regularly and you can usually hear their low rumble well in advance if you pay attention.  Watching the nearby train traffic light can tip you off as to the direction of the next train.

The railroad tracks are quite the engineering feat.  Since trains require relatively flat track, they can't handle the rolling hills, bluffs and ravines of the Palouse very well.  So instead, a route was carved (blasted) into the plateau to form an open top tunnel.

As I wrote about in a recent post, yellow-bellied marmots are everywhere around the falls and very fun to watch and photograph.  If you missed it and don't see it below, you can find the post here.

You may view more images of Palouse Falls, the rolling hills around the Palouse, and more in my Central and Eastern Washington Gallery.

In the meantime, here are a few images from my recent visit.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Smith Rock State Park

Smith Rock State Park is probably best known as a world-famous rock climbing area, but actually offers some incredibly beautiful scenery as well. Here near the town of Terrobonne, the Crooked River meanders through this canyon at the base of Picnic Lunch Wall and the Smith Rock Group.

I awoke at 3:00 am and left my campsite near Painted Hills for the drive to Smith Rock State Park and the hope to catch sunrise.

Coming from the east in the dark of night was challenging at best as there were no signs. Even the entrance to the park is signed for westbound traffic only, and it was only after seeing a glimpse of it in my rearview mirror that I realized I had missed the turn!

I arrived in plenty of time for sunrise, and awaited the arrival of Long Nguen, whom I had met at Painted Hills. He had scouted the park the day before. For me, this was a last minute bonus addition to my trip, and I had no opportunity to scout it.

I set up for first light near the picnic area, and immediately noticed the full moon working its way toward the Smith Rock Group to the east. Being in a canyon, it was hard to sense where exactly the sun was going to come up and to understand where first light would hit. When Long didn't arrive, I knew I likely wasn't in the best spot.

After making the best of the situation, I jumped back in my truck to scout the park. As I pulled into the bivy area, I saw Long walking thru the parking lot on his way back to his car. He was glad to see me. He shared his sunrise spot with me and I headed out to scout it for a future trip, agreeing to meet up with him later down along the river. The spot was nice indeed. I returned back to my truck and drove back to the picnic area.

I descended down to the river, crossed the bridge, and enjoyed the scenic stroll along the trail in both directions. Rock climbers slowly began to arrive on the scene.

The park is well signed with warnings about rattlesnakes, and I stepped carefully - especially off trail and in tall grass. I didn't come across any.
After a while I retreated back across the bridge to wander the other side of the river. I figured I would likely run into Long again here as he had some pools in the river picked out that he hoped to get some reflection shots in. I took my time with a few more compositions as I made my way west. Soon, I found a Singh Ray lens cap on the ground and new Long must be close!

Sure enough, Long had found a nice composition of the Smith Rock Group at a bend in the river and was relaxing along the hillside, absorbing the scene as much as he was photographing it.

We hung out here for a considerable amount of time talking and enjoying the scenery before us. It was quite nice to know that in such a popular park it was possible to still experience some solitude - at least in the early morning hours it was!
It was time to wrap up our morning. Long had to catch a flight back to Seattle, while I had a long but scenic drive back home ahead of me. We said our goodbyes, and looked forward to looking each other up once we arrived home.

The drive home was very scenic under blue skies, and well worth it.

I do plan to visit Smith Rock State Park again very soon - maybe next spring? I highly encourage you to visit it too.