Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

A trail winding through the trees crossed over a small creek at several points, here actually a short spur leading out to a small beach. Scenes like this are both attractive and tricky because of the interplay of bright spots of sunlight and deep shadow.

As the trail wound upward, surprisingly it became covered in soft white sand. Apparently this area was once underwater, and this was the beach... It did make that last half mile a significantly tougher hike, walking through sand, but the contrast in the photo was a fun study. The sky is exceptionally dark blue not only because of the brightness of the sand, but also because I'm playing with my new toy, a circular polarizing filter, which at many angles does a nice job of deepening the color of the sky.