9-1-04: The next hike with Echota and Josh, I decided to bring them to the ocean. We headed for Second Beach, and made a stop by Lake Crescent on the way in. This time I decided to try to capture the incredible clear blue of the water, and this shot is as close as I could get.

9-1-04: The walk in to Second Beach is through forest that was logged very early in the history of Seattle, so its trees have been growing again for nearly 100 years. The density of life in this part of the forest is amazing. These ferns are crowded on a flat spot on the trunk of this twisted tree. Life will grow nearly anywhere.

9-1-04: I have walked past this fallen tree many times, and am always amazed at how perfectly placed the ferns and huckleberries are in its roots. I can imagine having this as a sculpture in a garden.

9-1-04: The branches on this tree grew strangely. In the foreground, Josh speculates on how it may have come to be this way.

9-1-04: This tree looks as though it is stretched to its limits as it clings to the other for support.

9-1-04: The inevitable banana slug photo.

9-1-04: Lots of driftwood and fog on the beach today.

9-1-04: These are not colors that I normally like, but somehow they look good on an anenome. Sea-green is a color you can get away with if you actually live in the sea.

9-1-04: I had my eyes open for artistic arrangements of beach flotsam this day. I liked the white bones, black kelp, and gray sand.

9-1-04: An assortment of things washed up on shore. I love the smoothness of wood that has spent time being worn by the sand.