Northwest Soundscapes

Twilight, Dawn, and Sunrise in the Olympic National Forest, on Rugged Ridge near Sitkum and Calawah Rivers. Species include: Western Screech Owl, Varied Thursh, Pacific Wren, American Robin Starting during Nautical Twilight on March 30, 2019, we're first greeted by distant Western Screech Owls. The forest is soft. It rained last night and the moss-covered trees are still dripping in in the early l...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

Clips from a recent trip to Sinlahekin that was delightfully frigid. I mean just downright cold. At night it got down to 18-20º. Day 1 never rose above freezing. Day 2 got up to 35º. Day 3 got up to 39º, and we chickened out on spending another night. Sleeping with two pairs of thermal underwear, jeans, two wool sweaters, wrapped in a blanket INSIDE a sleeping bag and still feeling cold… we were d...

That last bit of compression just before the water hits the underhand is so satisfying, especially with the blurp-y splash right after

I love that anticipatory sound of water rushing between the rocks as it approaches. The "peek-a-boo" nature of the final water eruption just tickles my funny-bone.

I'm not entirely sure what I feel about this one. One the one hand, everything sounds so oddly distant. On the other, I remember seeing the seaweed dances with the surge as the water flowed through. I'll let you decide what you think.

This is the archetypical coastal glugging hollow to me. Drained of water, you can hear the approaching surge through the hollow rocks. When it fills up, though, it's like a giant sloshing can. Only when the water drains does it sound like the open channel it really is. This hollow gets deep. When the water was drained I could walk on the wet sand. After the surge, though, the fill limit was 2-3 fe...

Another angle on the same surging chamber as before. I tried to focus a little more on the sloshing, but it's difficult to get a good aim when dangling mics from above.

This nice, long chamber was further up the beach from the previous chambers. As such, it had a nice long surge and drain without ever staying full.

Like The Tunnel, this hollow was further up the beach from the rest. The difference here is that the actual fill chamber was deep inside the rock and I was only ever able to record through a crevice that looked into it. Rather than hearing the water slosh up and around in a wide stereo field, we instead mostly hear the reverberant surges and splashes. It has a nice giant "chamber" feel without any...

I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a unique place in the Pacific Northwest. The shallow-bowl shaped meadows made for a beautiful natural amphitheater for recording. Q...

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.