Ediz Hook

Author's Comments

I drove out to the end of the hook on a January afternoon when the wind was doing something interesting and the Olympics had just come clear of cloud for the first time in days. That is the photograph this place keeps offering - the mountains across the harbor, snow on the high peaks, the water of the strait moving in the foreground with the kind of texture you cannot fake. Three miles of sand spit puts you in a strange position. You are out in the water without being on a boat. The light comes from directions you do not expect. Golden hour here is a long affair in summer and a brief, urgent thing in winter. I prefer winter. The storms roll in from the west across the strait and you can watch them arrive for an hour before they reach you, the cloud line dragging rain behind it. A long exposure on a moody afternoon turns the chop into something closer to fog, and the freighters anchored in the harbor become quiet shapes in the middle distance. South toward the Olympics is the obvious composition. North toward Vancouver Island on a clear day is the one most people miss. The road occasionally floods. That is part of the bargain. Check before you drive out, and if the conditions are right for waves, accept that you will get wet and bring something to wipe the lens. The crowds are almost nonexistent, which is the other reason I keep coming back. You can stand at the end of the spit for an hour in February and see two cars and a Coast Guard helicopter, and that is the whole afternoon.

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