Journeys›Photograph

A Weekend Drive Along the Northern California Coast

·San Francisco, California·#bay area#landscape-photography#pacific-ocean#marin-headlands#coastal-drive
Purple thistle flowers in the foreground with a sparkling ocean and hazy hills and coastline in the background.

Just a few quiet days at home to start the month of June. The weather was hazy over the water, but I went for a drive up the coast anyway. The purple thistles were out in full force along the clifftops, framing the view of the headlands stretching out into the Pacific. The air was thick with salt.

I pulled over at a few spots to look straight down from the road. It's a sheer drop in most places, right to the rocks where the waves are constantly churning. It's a dizzying perspective, watching the water crash so far below, and the scale is always hard to capture.

From the higher viewpoints, the coastline just stretches on and on—a long, rugged line of green and brown hills dropping into the ocean. The haze burned off a bit as the day went on, leaving a deep blue sky. It's always windy up here, but it's a familiar and welcome sight. Just a quiet weekend spent observing the local landscape.

Looking down a steep cliff into a rocky ocean cove with dark blue water crashing against the shore and rocks.A panoramic view of a rugged coastline with a vast blue ocean, distant hills, and a rocky cliff in the foreground.A vast blue ocean from a high cliff, with green and brown hills, scattered trees, and distant land under a hazy sky.Blue ocean with whitecaps seen from a high, forested cliff; distant coastline and hills under a hazy sky.High-angle view of a steep, grassy coastal cliff descending to dark rocks and a bright, shimmering ocean.A steep, green and brown grassy coastline meets a sun-dappled ocean under a hazy sky, with distant hills.

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