Sunrise to Sunset

The Pacific NW is getting a visit from the dreaded "Pineapple Express."  It's been raining nonstop since morning, which means no outdoor activities for me today.  Perfect excuse to stay home and get caught up on blog posts!

Pre-dawn in the Gorge

In mid-September over the course of a week's time, the Portland area experienced a series of fantastic sunrises and sunsets.  Of course, I missed them all - and kicked myself every time the sky lit up at home and a local photographer posted their fabulous photos of the event on Facebook.  Since I live in a low-lying, heavily treed area, getting good or even mildly interesting sky photos from my front door isn't gonna happen.

Colorful fog

I wasn't the only one experiencing a bad case of sunrise/sunset FOMO.  My neighbor and photography-mentor Cheri was also lamenting missing all the recent colorful sky shows.  So we devised a plan.  Checking weather forecasts, it appeared the following Monday looked promising.  Cheri and I decided to make an early visit to the Portland Women's Forum Scenic Viewpoint in the Gorge, one of our favorite sunrise spots.

The fog begins taking over Crown Point

On the designated morning, I awoke early and joined Cheri as we sped through the metro area towards our chosen Gorge viewpoint.  However, just a few miles from our destination, we hit a thick fog bank.  Nooooo!!!

Pink-hued clouds at the Vista House

Since we were now almost to the viewpoint, there was nothing else to do but continue.  I totally expected another foggy fail, but upon arrival we were both pleasantly surprised to discover the Women's Forum Viewpoint perched above the fog.  And even better, the clouds made for some great sky drama.  As the sun rose, it lit up the fog in lovely purple hues.  A very popular spot for photographers, Cheri and I were the only ones there that morning (we assumed everyone else had been scared off by the fog.)  Although we didn't get a big colorful sky show, the fog and cloud drama was nearly as good.

Dramatic cloudy skies over the Columbia River

But as the sun climbed higher, so did the fog, eventually obscuring our view of the Gorge.  Time to move on!  Cheri drove to nearby Crown Point, the place we'd just photographed from afar, for an up-close view of the famous Vista House.  Originally built as a comfort station for visitors driving the Historic Columbia River Highway, this unique structure is always photo-worthy.  Sadly, due to COVID, the place was closed and vehicle parking adjacent to the building barricaded.

Clearer river views

But visitors could still access it's fabulous viewpoints on foot, and that's exactly what we did.  By now the fog was starting to lift, giving us something to see.  Low-hanging clouds made for some great images of the Columbia River looking eastward.  

Latourell Falls

Cheri and I finished up our morning with visits to a couple of our favorite Gorge waterfalls.  Due to the unseasonably dry summer Latourell Falls was merely a skinny stream.  (I'm sure with all the rain we've gotten it's raging today!)

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls looked a bit better.  Of course this being Oregon's most famous waterfall, one always has to fight the tourists to get photos.  But Cheri and I managed to squeeze ourselves into a good spot.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

Driving home from the Gorge late morning, Cheri asked if I was interested in catching sunset on the coast that same evening.  Well, she didn't have to ask twice - of course I said yes!

Setting sun on the ocean

I had about two hours at home to grab a bite to eat, recharge the camera batteries, and pack a warm jacket.  Then Cheri pulled into my driveway and we were off once again.  Luckily, the Oregon coast is only a one-hour drive away.

There's no way to get a photo without people in it

I'd been wanting to capture a sunset at nearby Cannon Beach.  The beach's prominent feature was a seastack named Haystack Rock and nearly every local photographer included this popular rock in their sunset images.

Sun's final rays

After parking, Cheri and I loaded up our tripods and set out on the long beach walk to Haystack Rock.  Arriving at the rock, we jockeyed around a few times before finding what we thought was the best sunset spot.

There were more people on the beach than I'd expected for a Monday evening in mid-September.  Don't know if COVID had anything to do with this, but it seemed half of Portland had taken work and school off that day.  It was nearly impossible to capture an image without people.

Day is done

But many times people bring scale to a photograph, so I didn't really mind too much if I captured the stray couple strolling through my frame.  But when the sun began to drop, both Cheri and I were annoyed when a woman stepped right in front of our tripods, pointing her phone at the sun.  The woman's companion, seeing our ire, warned that she was blocking our cameras, but the woman completely ignored him.  So Cheri and I did the only thing we could - we moved ourselves away from the clueless woman.

Post-sunset light in the sky

Although both Cheri and I wished for a bit of clouds to give interest, the sky remained a blank slate.  Despite clear weather, the setting sun bathed everything in a nice golden light, and the sky's orange tint was stunning.  As the sun sank towards the horizon, wet beach sand glowed in lovely peach hues.  A beautiful end to the day!

Light lingers in the sky

Once the sun was down, Cheri and I packed up our tripods and began the half mile walk back to the parking area.  But the beach didn't grow dark right away.  Color continued to linger in the sky, turning from orange to gold, pink, and purple.

The sky is almost better post-sunset

This was almost better than the sunset itself!  Amazed we both stopped, put cameras back on their tripods, and resumed shooting. 

The colors kept getting better

Our return trip became delayed, for with every step Cheri and I noticed something else gorgeously colored that we just had to stop and capture.  The hues just kept getting better.  Nightfall was postponed as the colorful sky stuck around for several minutes longer.

It was so lovely we didn't want to leave

The beach reflected these incredible sky colors on the wet sand.  It almost looked like a tie-dye t-shirt.  Cheri and I kept shooting and shooting until darkness finally blotted out the sky.

Colorful sky reflections on the wet sand

After a quick stop at the local chowder house, we then headed home.  Up before sunrise, it had been a long day for both of us.  But capturing both a lovely sunrise and sunset had been totally worth the lack of sleep.  FOMO no more - finally a sunrise/sunset combo that we didn't miss!