Coastal Escape

All photos copyright 2009 Wes Hatcher Photography

My Favorite Place...

Every once in a while I get a crazy wild hair to visit the coast. Even though its about three hours away from where I've been staying, the drive doesn't seem to bother me as I know when I wake up I'll hear the sound of the Northern California surf crashing outside my makeshift campsite. This trip was different, when I reached my favorite quick tent pitch there were new signs that read day use only, no camping. How dare the state/federal government place restrictions on our lands. Determined to go to bed (at about 1:15 am) I pressed on to another of my MVP's (most visited Places). The other beach lies at the end of a deathly curvey muddy dirt road. The road starts in a meadow where the elk graze and procedes to take you directly into the deepest darkest stretch of one of the many redwood rainforests in the Pacific northwest. Once I arrived at the end of the stretch the road starts to hug the bottom of sheer cliffs winding nearer and further from the beach as I go. A couple of creeks meander off of the hills and cross the road, just shallow enough to safely traverse with the Audi. I make good time getting to the first campground, and sure enough on a staurday night all the sites are full. It is now around 2 am and I know I am exausted but don't seem to feel the effects just yet. There is one last hope for a bed at the end of the road lies a parking lot for one of the areas attractions. No camping signs greet me and at this point I cant take it any more. I park the Car and procede to grab the essentials; tent, pillow, sleeping bag, food and clothes. The beach is at this point about three hundred yards out and I have a maze of elk trails and swamp crossings to navigate in the pitch black night. Once safely over the makeshift log bridges I settle on a site not knowing where the tide actually is and I frankly dont care at this time of the morning. With the tent put together its time for a snack and a warm sleeping bag. It is at this time that I realize the sky is completely covered with stars, burning so brightly due to the lack of the lights of civilation. Deciding to lay there with my head laying partially out of the tents door, I begin to soak in the view. At that time I realized I was witnessing a summer meteor shower with the occiasional passing of a satalite. I counted about ten of each and dozed off into a wonderful dreaming state. I awoke with a little chill and realized the tent was still open. Rearanging the bag and pillow I was now ready to give into the sandman literally. A few hours later I woke up to the crashing surf only about a hundred yards away. The morning light was creeping up over the cliffs behind me. I knew the morning would be the best time to use the warm light and fog for photos. Spending most of the morning wandering around shooting. The energy of the ocean and the area I chose took over. I was at peace for the first time in a long while since moving out of South Lake Tahoe. I know I'll I will always hold this spot in my heart, drive unbelieveable lengths to get here, and always long to come back to the ocean. I'm going to let the photos speak for them selves because I could probably write about the North Coast all night.