Best coastal shots west coast

[Gary Tarbert]

Hi , I am coming to The states in late may early june , We have established that waterfalls may not be running that well due to drought , But any tips for coastal scenes ( an aussie looking for coastal in USA) A bit like an englishmen looking for coal in Newcastle ? But any tips ?

[John Kasaian]

In California: Highway 1 from Pismo to Santa Cruz. Expect fog in the morning to burn off about 10-ish. The coast line from San Francisco North to the Canadian border is excellent as well (and much less crowded!)

[Heroique]

In Washington: Hwy 101 circumnavigates the Olympic Peninsula, plenty of places to stay.

Sea stacks in the surf, gloomy rain forests, snowy mountains – if you have time left over, you might even visit Olympic Nat'l Park.

Our Oregon experts will chime in on their photogenic shores.

[Bruce Barlow]

Bandon, Oregon

[dsphotog]

From south to north....
Big Sur, Bixby Bridge, Point Lobos.(south of Carmel)
Marin Headlands, and Baker Beach have classic views of Golden Gate bridge.
While in SF, you might like Fort Point, directly under Golden Gate bridge.

[Heroique]

In honor of the Oregon/Calif. coastal suggestions above, and in anticipation of more to follow, my hope this summer is to travel further south (from Seattle) than I usually do.

Meantime, in this image, I captured Hwy 101 (Olympic Peninsula) from above; it will help illustrate my earlier suggestion. I think I can already see Gary in that tiny car!

131584

Snowy mountains, a rain forest valley (upper left), a powerful river winding out of it, on its way to the Pacific Ocean (behind me). A paradise of diversity. I’m a little north of the town of Forks, located on the Peninsula's SW side, a great place to stay.

I'm looking forward to more Wash./Oregon/Calif. coastal tips for LFers.

[Gary Tarbert]

Oh Sorry wrong Coast should have said East Coast , But thanks for tips on my return I will be coming in from the west side

[pipes]

Point Reyes CA... there are also good spot a days trip inland... you have Yosemite, Bishop, Death Valley, J. Tree... you can make it to Glacier NP, passing the paluse... Colombia Gorge has many spots that include water...

[John Kasaian]

Oh Sorry wrong Coast should have said East Coast , But thanks for tips on my return I will be coming in from the west side
Oh. Never mind.

[Vaughn]

Maine...:cool:

[Heroique]

We have established that waterfalls may not be running that well due to drought.

East Coast? What a sudden, tectonic shift! I'd enjoy hearing East Coast tips too.

Just for clarification, it's the West Coast with the drought.

Maine waterfalls will be gushing!

[Drew Wiley]

Even though Calif is in severe drought, we had a very wet Dec here on the coast, and have an early onset of drippy fog too, so things are pretty lush compared to
inland. In other words, I'm expecting Pt Reyes to look similar to most years, though it's hard to predict the peak of poppies and yellow lupine peak exactly. Normally May and June are dreamy. Further north should also be nice, provided you don't run into any grumpy specimens of Sasquatch named Vaughn!

[Jim Andrada]

+1 for Maine

[Bruce Barlow]

Schoodic Point, Maine
Pemaquid Point, Maine
Stickney Brook, Dummerston, VT
Newfane, VT
Walpole, NH
Route 100 Vermont
Kankamangas Highway, New Hampshire

That's not a bad start. Newfane and Walpole are classic New England villages. Schoodic and Pemaquid are outstanding rocks (Schoodic is part of Acadia National Park, which always seems to disappoint my camera and me, except for Seal Cove). Stickney Brook seems to show up in about every picture book from Vermont. Route 100 has idyllic Vermont farms. Kankamangas Highway spans New Hampshire, with a rocky river beside it the whole way.

[jp]

In Maine,
Acadia NP
Baxter state park
Many state parks along the coast. I like birch point due to proximity, Reid is also nice.
Lighthouses like Marshall point and pemaquid and Rockland breakwater.
The best parts of Maine only start once you get an hour north or east of the Portland area.

In nh,
Kankamangus is great. The whole white mountains national park is great and has waterfalls.

Plenty of water here. We got what the rest of thee country didn't.

[Drew Wiley]

Does the sun set in the east nowadays? or does someone have a broken compass?

[dsphotog]

Does the sun set in the east nowadays? or does someone have a broken compass?

In post #7 the op realized he meant to ask for east coast locations.
So you are right, the title is no longer accurate.

[Bruce Barlow]

Does the sun set in the east nowadays? or does someone have a broken compass?

Neither. We read.

[Drew Wiley]

But do you read with the sun to your back?

[dsphotog]

...And does water flow down the drain clockwise or counter-clockwise?

[Drew Wiley]

Here's how the figured out when they were crossing the equator long ago. You bring along a hound dog and a woven throw rug (with the pattern wound around it).
In the northern hemisphere the dog will walk around and lay down clockwise. In the southern hemisphere it will be counterclockwise. Same reason 35mm cameras
designed for southern climes have the spool take up crank on the right rather than the left.

[Gary Tarbert]

Hi , Maine looks good ,Will land in New york and head North to Seattle , I mean Maine;)

[BrianShaw]

Don't ignore Cape Ann in MA on the way to ME. Rockport and Gloucester are quite touristy but scenic nonetheless. More rural parts of the Cape are stunning. The road between there and Ispwich is very pretty, especially in Essex and to the north. Eat a fried clam in my memory.

[John Layton]

Take a long weekend...head out early to arrive in New Harbor Maine, check into the Gosnold Arms for a night, then drive out to Pemaquid Point for a late afternoon/evening of great photography. Have a lobster at Shaw's Warf (across from G. Arms) where the g+t's are at least half g!...or make a dinner reservation at the Anchor Inn in nearby Round Pond.

Next morning, leave your car parked at G. Arms (you can leave it there for a few days) and walk across to Shaw's with your gear...and hop on the 9:00am Hardy Boat to Monhegan Island - where you've already made reservations to stay for a couple of nights (I recommend either the Trailing Yew or the Island Inn). Monhegan is small but amazing, and despite what others might say about the "boatloads of people" (not really accurate) - most of these are day-trippers, and if you spend the night its easy to walk even reasonably short distances (via a great trail system) and have virtually to yourself any number of great locations involving cathedral forests with great trees and moss, rocky/cobbly coves with great surf, high headlands with more great surf. A neat "boneyard" of bleached dead trees (great in fog!) - a couple of caves, and a rusting shipwreck on Lobster Cove on the islands south end. A nice lighthouse/museum/art gallery at the top of the island. Etc. Etc. One of my very favorite places to photograph!

[John Layton]

...and the Gosnold Arms, while having an expensive sounding name, is actually very reasonable - and they serve a great breakfast!

[Gary Tarbert]

Thanks for the tips , We will be moving through all the areas suggested , So now i can make a map based on some of the great advice received on this forum.

[Peter Lewin]

Gary, perhaps you would like to expand a little on what you're looking for in seashores. If you want unspoiled, Maine certainly fits the bill. But between NY where you are landing, and Maine, there are many other options. One obvious, but developed, area is Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and also ports like Salem, Mass. Mystic Seaport in Connecticut is something of a sailing ship museum. Newport, Rhode Island has many oceanside mansions left from the age of the Robber Barons (i.e. early 1900s). I guess I'm unhappy with too many recommendations for Maine, and none for other East Coast seashores, many of which would require less of a drive from NYC.

[John Layton]

Almost too obvious to mention is Acadia park, which, although it does crowd up a bit in summer, is a bit quieter during the early fall (if you are into tent camping - you should check out Blackwoods Campground). Great thing about Acadia is the variety it offers...from rocky coves and cliffs, cobble beaches as well as a sandy one, plus some relatively easy to scale mountains, including the infamous Cadillac Mountain, which offers both trail and car access - with fantastic views and vantage points. You can also drive just a bit further north of this to the Schoodic peninsula, which offers some truly great photo-ops, and never seems to get that crowded.