The Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment

This beach area and the lighthouse are favorites of photographers. In the winter, this cape is subjected to violent winds from the storms that buffet the coast. This in turn produced impressive waves battering the shore. If you search about on the intertubes you will find photos of 10-20 foot waves charging into the shore with the lighthouse in the background. Today was not one of those days...best to start carefully and avoid the extremes. But the mist and light fog in the air over the water played well with the sun as it climbed over the edge of the hill on which the lighthouse stands.

The first image, above, is a single image but all the remaining ones are multiple exposures blended together (so-called HDR images) to capture the full dynamic range of the bright sun and the dark shadows.

I really like the way that the shadows of the trees and the cliff edge make streaks in the curtain of light pouring over the hill.

As the sun rose higher, these streaks grew more pronounced. The photo below is my favorite of the lot with a distorted reflection of the lighthouse in the wet sand at my feet and the water vapor creating layers of distance.

This brings an end to our journey to the California gold country and the  Oregon coast. And a suitable end it is. For the next while, we will be seeing places we've seen before as our travels will be limited close to home.