Tag Archives: lighthouse

Lighthouse at Fort Rodd Hill

Playing catch up with some older topics today. Our trip to Fort Rodd Hill made it on to the blog a long time ago but what I never got around to including was the lighthouse. We walked down the hill from the fort to see the lighthouse. We had been looking at it from the fort itself, but it was not a long walk to get down to the water and see where it was situated.

The entrance to the harbor will have been vital from the earliest days that the British established a navy base at Esquimalt. This lighthouse would have guided generations of ships into the port. I assume that it is now more symbolic than anything else. The modern navigation systems will provide accurate guidance, but it is still a landmark.

North Head Lighthouse

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I have already posted shots of a lighthouse from my visit to Cape Disappointment but I did hint in that post that there was a second lighthouse in the area. This is North Head Lighthouse. It sits at the end of the beach I walked along. For a long part of that walk, it was a distant shape on the cliff overlooking the beach. I finally got close to it and took some less distant shots but this was about the time I realized that some rain was coming my way and a speedy retreat might be in order.

I did think a visit to the lighthouse would be in order before I left so I drove up to the parking lot. Unfortunately, there was no space to park and I didn’t fancy parking a long way off and walking back in. However, something was on my side. It was starting to rain again. I figured that a lot of the people that had walked out to the lighthouse would be making a retreat for their vehicles. I drove to an overlook a little north and spent a few minutes there before returning to the parking lot. Sure enough, it was now a lot less busy and there were spaces everywhere.

It isn’t a long walk out to the lighthouse from the lot. You go past the house the keeper used to live in and a second property. I think that they are now available as vacation rentals. It seems like a cool place to stay but I imagine it feels a lot more remote when everyone has gone and it is dark. Might be a good spot for astrophotography on a clear night. (A stormy night might feel a bit more dramatic.)

There was some restoration work underway which meant a few areas with fencing and tape so I made the best of getting them out of the shots. The lighthouse itself looked in good condition and the view from the headland was very impressive.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

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I have seen many photographs of incredible waves breaking against the shore at Cape Disappointment at the far southwest corner of the state of Washington. While the storms that can lead to such waves are most likely in the winter months, I decided I wanted to do a recce trip to the Cape to get a feel for the area and see whether I wanted to go back when the weather is more rough. It is a three and a half hour drive to get there from home so an early start was in order.

The area has much to offer so there will be other posts to come about this visit but today I shall focus on the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse itself. It sits on a headland on the outlet from the Columbia River and it is this headland that is the backdrop for the most dramatic photos. There is another lighthouse nearby but more of that on another day. Looking from the beach up to the lighthouse on a calm day, it is hard to image how violent the waves can really get.

The lighthouse was off limits while I was there – presumably as a result of the pandemic. However, you could go to the visitors center which was a lot closer to it so you could have a different perspective on the light itself. While it was early in the day when I first got there, I hung around until mid afternoon before leaving for the drive home and the light had come around a bit by then. Sunset would be very nice but that was not the plan for this visit. I hope to go back, though.

Amphitrite Lighthouse

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Drive south from Tofino and you come to the wonderfully named town of Ucluelet. There are some great trails near the town that take you around the coastline and one of them goes past a lighthouse. The Amphitrite Lighthouse is a great looking lighthouse. In the days of modern navigation techniques, the concept of lighthouses seems a little out of date but they still serve a purpose and they do provide a nice focal point to a view of a rocky coastline. The lighthouse was one of the first things to see on the trail we took and I should probably post some of the other views in another post at some point. In the meantime, here is the light to keep you going.

Mukilteo Lighthouse and Some Ferries

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I had previously got a few shots of the lighthouse at Mukilteo while waiting to catch a ferry. I hadn’t wandered around for long though. While showing my mum around the area, we stopped off to have a look at Puget Sound. It was a cloudy day but the sun was making the occasional appearance. We wandered around the lighthouse buildings and went to watch the ferries come and go to Whidbey Island.

After a short while, the clouds briefly parted. I headed back from the water’s edge to try and get a couple of photos of the lighthouse in sunlight. The white structure is hardly interesting when it is very cloudy, even when playing with some options for exposure to give alternatives in post processing. A bit of light makes all the difference.

The same could be said for the ferries. Out on the water, they would pass through patches of sunlight when they would suddenly “pop”. A short distance closer in and then they were back out of the light. You had to take the chance when it presented itself!

Fort Casey Lighthouse

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My trip to Whidbey Island meant I had a fair bit of spare time to work with. I was chatting with a guy while I was there and he suggested a trip to Fort Casey. It was barely five minutes from where I was and it was a sunny day so why not. Fort Casey is one of the forts that were built to protect the Puget Sound area from possible invasion. Not only was it a fort but it also has a lighthouse. When I first got there, the lighthouse was off in the distance but, after a little exploration, I headed over to see it.

As with a lot of lighthouses in this part of the world, it is not terribly large. It doesn’t have to shine too far since there are islands all over the place blocking the line of sight so no need for it to be too high. Still, it is well maintained and comes in standard lighthouse white!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

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Yaquina Head got two visits from us during our stay in Oregon. We were in Newport on one of our early days and headed up to see it. Shortly after paying to get in to the park, the rain started to come down. I did a quick recce of the place but rapidly became more interested in the interior of a warm car (which Nancy had wisely elected not to leave in the first place). The entry was good for a few days so, with better weather forecast for later in the week, we decided to come back.

The weather dutifully obeyed and improved and we returned on our next trip to Newport. When its not raining, things definitely take on a more appealing feel. We wandered up to the lighthouse and took a look around it and out to see where some gray whales were passing by, if a little distant and happy to stay below the surface most of the time.

From the headland, there were stairs down to the beach which, when the tide was out (as it was while we were there), revealed a lot of rocky tidepools. People were encouraged to explore the tidepools to see the wildlife that is within. You could go quite a way across them but, given the number of creatures that were clinging to the rock surfaces, I was a bit reluctant to go trampling across them. Instead, I maneuvered around on the edges where I could avoid crushing some poor creature.

Plenty of things were living in the pools. While the crustaceans were everywhere, I was particularly drawn to the anemones. The way in which they close up when out of the water, keep themselves damp internally and then open up once they are back under water is impressive. They are also so varied in their colors. They are quite the interesting creature.

Hecata Head Lighthouse

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Head south along the coast from Yachats and you have a steady stream of gorgeous locations. One of these is Hecata Head. The treacherous nature of this part of the Oregon coastline means a string of lighthouses were built at intervals to ensure coverage and Hecata Head was one of those locations. The lighthouse is still there and it a popular tourist attraction.

You approach the lighthouse from the beach below, as would the original residents in the days when Highway 101 didn’t exist and boat access was the main way there. The houses for the keeper and assistant keeper were halfway between the beach and the lighthouse itself. The keeper’s house is now gone but the assistant keeper’s house is still there and is fully maintained. You can rent it out for events if you wish.

The location of the lighthouse itself provides a commanding view of the coastline and out to sea. Whales migrate along the coastline here and there were people keeping watch for them while we were there. If you head a bit further south on the highway, you get to an overlook which allows you to see back to the lighthouse and you see just how rugged the location is. I imagine building everything there was no small feat and neither was living there year round.

Lighthouse at Mukilteo

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Mukilteo Light Station is a small lighthouse located (not surprisingly) in Mukilteo. It sits in a small park right next to the ferry terminal for the crossing to Whidbey Island. I had been wondering about checking out the park and the light station for a while after noticing them on Google Maps but I had never got around to doing so. Then I found myself on the ferry to Whidbey with a buddy of mine when I looked back and saw the light in some lovely early morning sun. Too late but something to remember.

I didn’t have long to remember though. I was back at the ferry a few days later. This time we arrived just a little late to get the first ferry so had to wait for the second. This gave me a chance, albeit a short one, to have a quick look at the light. It isn’t the most impressive structure you will see but it is a nicely kept lighthouse on a nice promontory.

Lime Kiln State Park

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Further up the coast from Grandma’s Cove was Lime Kiln State Park. The area used to be a hive of lime production – hence the name of the park – but now the focus was on the lovely shoreline and the great views. The inclusion of a lighthouse certainly did nothing to harm the view. There were also the remains of a fortification of some sort on a headland which we had seen from further away when traveling towards to the park up the coast road.

The lighthouse provided a base for a volunteer group that was tracking the wildlife in the area. They had some signs identifying which whales had been seen in the area and when. We did not time our visit there well to see the whales although we did catch some later in the day further up the coast. The volunteers had binoculars to lend out to visitors if they needed them but, with no whales to be seen, we didn’t require them this time.