Deserted Beaches

May and June are my favorite months of the year. Not because the days are warm and sunny (that is far from the truth in the Pacific Northwest.) I love this time because the skies are still gray but dramatic, the beaches are wild but deserted, and the the trails are open but empty. Soon everything will be overrun by sun-starved people packing as much as they can into the six weeks we call summer up here. But for now, I'll just wander across an open stretch of sand and relish the feeling of solitude.

Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon

Crossing The River

Highway 101 crossing the Columbia River at Astoria, Oregon

Wide Open Beaches

Wide open and deserted beach at Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon

Harbor Reflections

Harbor reflections at Ketchikan, Alaska

Cold Cascade

"Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it." -Lao Tzu

Icicle Creek, Washington

Above Leavenworth

I struggled for several hours with the processing for this image with every result ending up in the recycle bin. Finally it dawned on me...

....it didn't need to be in color (note to self...think of this sooner)

Up above Leavenworth, Washington