Arch Rock
I got up at 6:00 to see the sun lighting the fog in the trees of the campground. Carol had said the night before she wasn't interested in getting up for sunrise, so I was on my own. As I drove north, every valley was filled with fog and every ridge was lit with sunlight. My first thought was shooting the coves at Arch Rock in the fog. When I arrived, the giant sea stack on the south side of the point was lit, and only the trees on the top were visible above the fog. It was the perfect shot, but in the time it took to get my tripod and walk to the trail, the fog had rolled in and obscured the entire scene. Bummer!
I walked around the point to the north side of the point, and it was nearly perfect. The lighting was great, the fog wasn't too thick, and I had the whole area to myself. I had 7 minutes of fabulous light, and then the fog rolled in there, too, and completely covered the cove and sea stacks.
I called Carol and asked if she wanted to get up and shoot the fabulous fog, and then started back to camp to get her. I made a quick stop at Natural Bridges to check out the fog there. There were still wisps of fog and the natural bridge on the right side was lit with warm light, but the shade was so deep on the other natural bridge that it was very hard to see.
I picked up Carol from camp, but by the time we returned to Arch Rock, all the fog was gone. The coves were bathed in warm light, and it was a gorgeous morning. But without the fog, it lost the mysterious feel of what's beneath the areas covered by the fog.
We drove to the turnout for the next cove north of Arch Rock and photographed the area from another angle. With a super wide-angle lense, the cove looks more like a quiet, little bay surrounded by trees. It has a competely different feel as you look out toward the ocean instead of having the vast expanse of tree-covered mountains in the background.
Sunset
Tonight, we had a sunset. Sunset has been a completely foreign concept on this trip, but tonight we walked down to our favorite area of Harris Beach to photograph the sunset. There were only a few clouds at the horizon, and the sun sank below the fog layer to ensure the sky wouldn't light up after sunset. This will likely be the only trip we've ever taken without getting a single good sunset. And since this is our longest trip ever by 3 weeks, that's hard to believe. It's been that kind of trip.
Previous Day
Return to Trip Page