A high-angle view of rugged sandstone sea stacks, caverns, and a prominent sea arch at Cape Flattery under a foggy sky, with a dark cormorant perched on a rock shelf in the foreground.

Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus)

Where Stone Defies the Sea

David S. McMeans · Fujifilm X-T1 · Fujifilm XF 18mm f/2 R

Cape Flattery, Makah Indian Reservation, Olympic Peninsula, Clallam County, Washington, United States

Image

Channels

Where Stone Defies the Sea

At the edge of the continent, where the high-energy surge of the Pacific Ocean relentlessly batters the Olympic Peninsula, a raw landscape of fractured sea stacks and hollowed headlands stands resilient against the elements. These imposing cliffs, sculpted by thousands of years of continuous marine fracturing, reveal beautiful sedimentary bands of iron-stained orange, chalky cream, and deep charcoal gray. The restless coastal swell sloshes aggressively through cavernous undercuts and a grand freestanding natural arch, gradually undermining the vertical pillars from below. Atop these steep precipices, a dense crown of Sitka spruce clings to a thin layer of soil, their profiles softened by a thick blanket of maritime fog that frequently sweeps in from the open ocean. Resting quietly on a narrow cliff shelf amidst this vast theater of stone and water, a solitary cormorant observes the turbulent sea, perfectly adapted to the cold, windswept rhythm of this rugged shoreline.

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