Olympic National Park includes long stretches of coastline. Its wonderfully refreshing to backpack and camp along the forests edge, on the beach.

Depending upon how far you hike from the car you can find some real solitude out there.

The spot I’ve visited most often is Point of the Arches. It lies along the northern-most section of ONP, just south of Neah Bay. Its now a very popular spot and sees many visitors. These images are from a trip 2 years ago, in January. A window of warm sunny weather was forecast, and I spent two glorious days there with sumptuous light.  On this particular sunset the colors were so bright and vivid and the orange glow from the rocks and sand so intense, it was more tricky than one would think to edit these and do the place justice.

North End of Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park

Its almost a 2-mile hike through the forest and mud until you get to the stairs and descend to the beach. Point of the Arches is another 2 miles walk, along the ocean.

Once the sun started to set the shadows and lines were amazing.

As the colors got richer it was impossible to capture enough images.

Every shot looked magnificent, better then the last, and the landscape is so utterly magical…

There you have it! Prints are available here. Info on Photography Tours here!