Here is one of those images with so much contrast that even the human eye has difficulty resolving it.

It probably did not help that I was basically pointing a camera directly into the sun.  This, of course, leaves the side facing me pretty much in total darkness.

Normally, I would try and tame this contrast with a graduated neutral density filter.  That becomes a bit of an issue when you do not have a fairly even division between the light and dark parts of the image.  If memory serves, I did attempt that here, but decided to try some exposure bracketing with layer mask blending in mind for later.  I'm not a fan of tone mapped HDR images, preferring to do it the old fashioned way.  So while this may not look that spectacular in a web version, it turned out pretty nice in prints and in my book.

This is Russian Gulch, adjacent to the Jug Handle State Preserve.  It's located just south of Fort Bragg, California.  You'll pass right by it on your way to Mendocino.  It's one of those out of the way places I always make a visit to if I am in the area.

Beach at Russian Gulch I take no credit for the footprints.  The tourists had departed by the time I arrived.