[RoxnDox]

There are more in my collection, I just got to tired last night to finish up... Moving from Puget Sound west to the ocean coast, here are some more Washington lights we've managed to visit.

In Westport, we find the historic Grays Harbor Lighthouse, still an active station. When it first opened in 1898 it was right on the edge of the beach. Now it's surrounded by trees and the water is a long ways out, thanks to the shifting sands...


This is the stairway to heaven well ok, maybe just to the light... It has an unusual design (don't know if it's unique, but it's the only one I know of...), in that all of the stairs are free-floating like a slinky. Only the flat landings are anchored to the tower walls by those cast-iron brackets. Makes a trip up and down the stairway really cool as it bounces a little. <grin> The tower and stairs rode out the 1906 San Francisco quake without damage, but the lightkeepers log said it was quite a ride up there.


The lens itself is apparently unique as well. It's a third-order Fresnel assembly, built as a clamshell design with alternating red and white beams. This view is looking through the white bullseye lens at the center, focused on the bulb itself. The camera was about 4 ft from the bullseye, and the bulb itself another 15-18 inches inside. And the bulb wasn't all that big... These lenses are magnificent works of technical artistry.


Also in Westport, at the Westport Maritime Museum, is the original lens assembly from the old Destruction Island Lighthouse. It's an intact, pristine, first-order Fresnel lens, 24 white beams, and served from 1892 to 1995, when the station was automated and the lightkeepers departed. The USCG saved the lens and it ended up here. The museum built a "chapel" (hell, I'd call it a shrine ) for just the lens. Natural daylight so the sun can bounce thru the prisms, not that there was any sun the day we visited... It's fully operational, rotation and all, so you get the full effect of the 24 beams. We got in just before they closed up the building, so nobody else to worry about. Standing there in the quiet, watching the beams spinning around as they did for so many years, the place really really does feel like a shrine, a monument to the magnificent artistry and designs of the lensmakers.


More coming, have to go check on the salmon in the smoker...

[RoxnDox]

OK, salmon coming along nicely.. Back to West coast lights!

Finishing up Washington, two more down by the Columbia River, aka "the graveyard of the Pacific"... Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, looking a bit weather-beaten because it is... We did not get to go inside this active station.


Not far away is the North Head Lighthouse, which we did get to tour. Both of these lights are subjected to wild weather and strong storm winds, as the twisted and stubborn vegetation shows...


Going way up North, here is a beautiful little light, located on an isolated island in Southeast Alaska not too far from Juneau. We were out on a whale-watching excursion from a Princess cruise and rounded the point here shortly before encountering a pod of Orca. Note the tide range up here! There is only one Tlingit Nation village on the entire ninety mile island aside from the Point Retreat Lighthouse. {There are days that sounds perfect!}


A few more to go yet

[RoxnDox]

Heading South this time, to Oregon's coast

You can't get there (well, I suppose you *could*, but not me) to visit the light out yonder. The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse sits on an isolated remnant of volcanic rock offshore from Cannon Beach in northwestern Oregon. This is as close as I could get with the 300mm zoom. The light served from 1881 to 1957. The guys who constructed the station back then and who later served here - Great Big Brass Ones!!!! There are many photos online of waves crashing *higher than the light*...


A little ways further down, the Cape Meares Lighthouse also allows you a close up look at a first order Fresnel lens, alternating red and white beams. It's a shorty of a tower, since it sits at the edge of the bluffs 200 feet above the sea. The light served from 1889 through 1963. It's now part of Oregon State Parks. The lens itself is not complete and shows the effects of vandalism and theft throughout the years between decommissioning and its restoration.


Last fall we took a Southern Califrognia coastal cruise. The itinerary included San Francisco, so we went out to the Alcatraz tour. On the island with the prison sits a lovely lighthouse built to serve in the treacherous waters of the Bay in the Gold Rush days. It was the first US light on the West Coast. Served from 1854 through 1963 when it was automated.


Technically, this is probably an automated light rather than a lightHouse, but I still like the shot This was the end of the breakwater exiting the Port of Long Beach on that same cruise.


And last but not least, the only light we've visited in the great state of Hawaii. The Kileaua Point Lighthouse on the island of Kauai is the northernmost light in the Islands. We did not get to make the hike down (minor medical problems that day) to take the tour. One of these days, perhaps. The light served from 1913 through 1974.


I hope you have enjoyed this expedition through my lighthouse arvhives as much as I have. I love 'em, what can I say?

[Kevin B123]

I hope you have enjoyed this expedition through my lighthouse arvhives

Yes, I have thoroughly enjoyed them. Thank you for taking the time to share them and give a narrative.

[rod_grant]

I hope you have enjoyed this expedition through my lighthouse arvhives as much as I have.

Great images, Jim. and as Kevin said, great narrative.
I loved them all.

[edom31]

n westport,

awesome!!!

[noelcmn]

[Bruce Clark]

A few more views of Cape Otway Lighthouse. One from the top

[alfa75ts]

Just for the heck of it, this is Ken Duncans Cape Otway Lighthouse.

And back to out regular program, Cape Liptrap Lighthouse, Cape Liptrap, Victoria.

[Bruce Clark]

Just for the heck of it, this is Ken Duncans Cape Otway Lighthouse.

And back to out regular program, Cape Liptrap Lighthouse, Cape Liptrap, Victoria.

Nice. I have never been to Cape Liptrap.


I do like Ken Duncan's version. I will have to revisit and take some clouds with me.

[Bruce Clark]

Cape Borda Northwest tip of Kangaroo Island South Australia

[RoxnDox]

Nice shots!

[ngeneous]

Morris Island, SC

[rod_grant]

Morris Island, SC

Yep, got to keep the ships away from those dead trees!!

On a more serious note, are those two more lighthouses in the distance?

[noelcmn]

X-posted from the B/W thread