Point Wilson and Fort Worden | Port Townsend, Washington

I grew up in Port Townsend, Washington. Chetzemoka Park, Point Wilson and Fort Worden beaches were my playgrounds and refuge. When I was old enough to ride a bicycle, Point Wilson was the first place I headed for. Why? It was the end of the earth. Riding north, you could go no further: the Strait of Juan de Fuca formed an impassable barrier—at least to a nine year old. When I was old enough to drive, my mama's New Yorker Deluxe with 2-speed Power Glide floated through the roads of the point with ease. My first motorcycle, a Honda 305 Scrambler, seemed to automatically know the Point was my destination.

As a child, I had learned that Fort Worden was once a S'Klallam village known as Qatáy (kuh-tai). I wondered why they left such a beautiful place? To build Fort Worden, the US government relocated the S'Klallam people to the far side of the Olympic Peninsula. Over a century later, S'Klallam tribe members began to visit to Qatáy en masse during late summer to celebrate their ancestral home with canoe paddling, song, and dance.

EOS 5D MK II and EF 24-105 4L IS USM