One of the highlights of living on the Southwest Washington coast is the ability to leave the city behind and immerse myself in the region’s natural beauty. It’s only a half-mile drive from my home that gets me out of town and into the timberland, farms, and scenic Willapa Bay estuary – a great escape from the urban areas.
Compared to many other coastal regions, Willapa Bay lacks a deep harbor, so it never developed like other parts of the Pacific Northwest. As a result, the surrounding estuary has remained a haven for diverse wildlife, including birds, fish, and mammals. It’s also a popular destination for kayaking and canoeing enthusiasts.
My first stop for an early evening photo outing was just a short distance from town. This area used to be farmland but has since been returned to nature through conservation efforts. A lone, weathered tree along the tidal slough keeps drawing me back to photograph it. I only visit this location at high tide, as the water recedes to leave behind a muddy channel at low tide.
The next stop along U.S. Route 101 brought me to an active cattle ranch, where a levee runs across the pasture to keep the waters of Willapa Bay from flooding the fields. Growing near the levee is a series of solitary trees that have always captivated me. However, I’d never stopped to photograph them before. On this occasion, with a hazy Pacific Northwest sky from late-summer wildfires, I rendered the trees a silhouette against the bright background.
Further down U.S. Route 101, I found an access point for the Bone River. Willapa Bay has many rivers flowing into it, most relatively short in length as they drain the 80 inches of annual precipitation from the surrounding hills. With its entire course just a few miles long, the Bone River empties into the bay’s tidal estuary, where U.S. Route 101 crosses near its mouth. As I arrived, the clouds broke along the horizon, and a focused beam of evening sunlight illuminated the opposite bank, creating a natural vignette – a photographer’s dream.
As the evening progressed, I continued onto Bay Center, where I photographed a few abandoned boats and the Pioneer Cemetery.
If you’d like to see more of my Pacific Northwest landscape photography, I invite you to visit my online art store. I’m confident you’ll find images that transport you to the wild and beautiful places that make Washington State an exceptional destination.
