Willapa Peninsula

1/13-1/15/07 SW Washington

I have fond memories of Long Beach Peninsula, spending time with my grandmother and cousins on this narrow spit of land that swings up the coast from the mouth of the Columbia. I had visited many times during the summers of my youth and found comfort there again after the death of a beloved uncle. This year I decided to share my lovely peninsula with a few of my fellow Mountaineer Photographers. The peninsula holds many opportunities for photographers, from sweeping ocean vistas to historic old homes and a few lighthouses thrown in for fun.

We rented yurts at the Cape Disappointment State Park for the weekend and arrived Saturday afternoon to a bitterly cold welcome – not from the park staff but from the temperature of the yurts. The yurts were advertised as being heated – however, there is only so much heated defense that can be produced by a small 1200 watt heater against a frigid cold winter the likes of which are rarely seen in the northwest. We quickly settled in and set out to explore our immediate environs, hoping the activity would keep us warmer. Our first stop was a Waikiki Beach to photograph the Cape Disappointment lighthouse atop the cliff. As we finished here, the light began fading although a few breaks could be seen with a slight orange color reflected in the wet sand. So, we gathered together for dinner in Ilwaco and a chilly night in our mausoleum-cold yurts.

It really doesn’t take too long for my sleeping bag to warm up and luckily Saturday night was no different. I woke up pre-dawn and comfortably changed into some warm clothes for my Sunday romp. Two of my compatriots and I had plans of heading to Ledbetter Wildlife Refuge at the tip of the peninsula for sunrise and what a beautiful sunrise it was. During the night, our cloud cover cleared off to reveal a star-filled night sky and for our interests that morning a bright yellow and orange sunrise over the bay. As the morning warmed, I walked along the beach with a myriad of seashells and birds in the surf and birds in the grass. I hadn’t been relaxed for several weeks and here my troubles seemed to melt away – at least something was melting. The water in the bay had begun to freeze and had washed ice chips ashore and built a little wave barricade between surf and shore.

After I rejoined my morning photo partners, we headed into Oysterville – a town I knew all too well. This is where Grandma had lived. Oysterville is a small town with wonderful old houses, a church filled with character and oyster shell lined streets. OK, they are now paved, but that’s how I remember them. We journeyed on to the local cemetery then sought out the windless kite flying festival in Long Beach. Yes, you read that right – windless kite flying. This was absolutely fascinating to watch. These kites are so light that just the tension on the cords is enough to keep the kite aloft. We ventured back down to Cape Disappointment to visit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and tour the North Head lighthouse before heading back into Ilwaco for a walk around the marina. It was decided that sunset at the North Head lighthouse would be the best place and we watched a orange and red sunset on a day that had been sparkling clear if not just a little chilly.

After dinner in Ilwaco, we all journeyed back to our yurts. However, my yurt had developed a beeping problem – the battery in the smoke detector died and the detector emitted an intermittent beep to let us know this fact. As we knew we’d never sleep with the noise, we packed up and headed to our other yurt across the way and four of us settled into a little warmer of a night – body heat really does help. Sunrise the next morning was admired along the Columbia River and after a short stroll on the beach, we were all ready to go home to warm up as best we could.

New Year's Eve

1/1/07 Olympic Coast

I can think of no better way to ring in a new year than snuggled in my tent beneath snow-covered mountains or tall stately trees. This year we welcomed 2007 by sleeping on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But first we made a little tour around the north end of the Olympic Peninsula.

We packed up the puppies Saturday and drove to Sequim, hoping to camp at the Dungeness Spit. Sadly, the campground is closed during the winter and we had to figure out our next plan as night was fast approaching. Kudos to the Washington State Park system as we can usually find a campground open - our Saturday night was spent overlooking Sequim Bay. We were beginning to regret our decision as most people crazy enough to camp in the dead of winter are at least intelligent enough to do it in campers, with generators. After 5 days of listening to our neighbor's generator during the last power outage, I was not thrilled about listening to our temporary neighbor's power source. By 10, though, the campground was silent except for the occasional wave lapping up against the rocks. Thank you temporary camping neighbor.

We awoke early the next morning to catch the possible sunrise on Hurricane Ridge. The road to the ridge is closed until dawn, but we were there waiting when the rangers opened the gate and we weere able to watch the sun make it's way across the sky, through the infrequent breaks in the clouds. The wind, blowing harsh and cold convinced us that a few hours on the ridge snowshoeing wouldn't be the best way to spend the morning. So we let the puppies play in the snow a bit and went on our way to Kalaloch.

It rained on and off on our drive out to the beach and sprinkled lightly on us as we set up camp. But dried up a bit as we walked along the beach watching the clam-diggers, many coming up the beach empty-handed. The rain came back as wee settled into our tent, the puppies curled up on our feet. A few of our neighbors whooped it up at midnight, but Michael & I just wished each other a happy new year then nestled back into our sleeping bags.

Happy New Year!