The best golden-hour low tide of the next 120 days on the West Coast is Sunday, July 12, 2026 at La Push, WA (NOAA station 9442396): a −2.1 ft low at 5:35 AM, just 3 minutes after sunrise, scoring 97 of 100. Across the four stations in this calendar — La Push, Garibaldi, Monterey, and La Jolla — every top-ranked golden-hour overlap through late October lands in July, and 22 of the 24 are minus tides.
What counts as a golden-hour low tide?
Two clocks have to agree. The tide clock decides how much reef and wet sand you get; the sun clock decides whether the light on it is worth carrying a tripod for. For each station Tidewindow crosses NOAA's harmonic tide predictions with the sun's computed position and keeps the windows where a deep low lands near sunrise or sunset. Each window carries two solar numbers alongside its 0–100 score: the sun's azimuth at the moment of the low, and the offset in minutes between the low and the nearest sunrise or sunset (negative means the low comes before the sun is up). The golden-hour tool computes this live for every station we track; the formulas, including the scoring, are on the methodology page.
The mechanism explains the whole calendar. The morning low arrives roughly 30–60 minutes later each day — at La Push it steps 4:39, 5:35, 6:26 AM over July 11–13 — while July sunrise barely moves. Each spring-tide run therefore crosses dawn once or twice, and those crossing mornings, deep water out and sun just up, are what this page collects.
Which mornings top the 2026 list?
One best window per station, ranked by score:
| Station | Date | Low (ft MLLW) | Low time | Low vs. sunrise | Sun azimuth | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Push, WA (9442396) | Sun, Jul 12 | −2.14 | 5:35 AM | +3 min | 56° | 97 (Exceptional) |
| Garibaldi, OR (9437540) | Mon, Jul 13 | −2.08 | 6:34 AM | +54 min | 66° | 90 (Exceptional) |
| Monterey, CA (9413450) | Wed, Jul 15 | −1.59 | 6:14 AM | +13 min | 64° | 81 (Great) |
| La Jolla, CA (9410230) | Wed, Jul 15 | −1.51 | 4:54 AM | −58 min | 55° | 68 (Good) |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA predictions at stations 9442396, 9437540, 9413450, and 9410230, next 120 days.
Read down the dates and the peak slides south: July 12 on the Olympic coast, July 13 at Tillamook Bay, July 15 on Monterey Bay. One caveat: La Jolla's highest-scoring window puts its −1.5 ft low 58 minutes before sunrise. The score rewards depth; if you want the low itself inside the light, La Jolla's honest pick is July 17 (−0.67 ft at 6:13 AM, 20 minutes after sunrise).
What does the azimuth number tell you?
Azimuth is a compass bearing for the sun. NOAA's solar glossary defines it as "measured clockwise from true north to the point on the horizon directly below the object" — so 0° is north, 90° east, 180° south, 270° west. Every window in this calendar puts the sun between 45° and 72°: northeast to east-northeast, low over the land.
Stand facing the Pacific and that sun is behind you. Practically:
- Front light comes free. Sea stacks and exposed reef get warm, even light; exposures are easy; keep your own long shadow out of frame.
- Shadows point at the water. A shadow falls opposite the azimuth — subtract 180° and these windows throw shadows toward 225°–252°, southwest to west-southwest: raking lines aimed at the surf, a gift for foregrounds.
- Sidelight means turning parallel to the shore. Shooting along the beach puts that 45–72° sun on your shoulder and pulls texture out of ripples and rock.
- Backlight is not on this menu. A sun-behind-the-sea-stack silhouette needs an evening window, and none cracks any station's top-6 list in the next 120 days.
The station calendars
All six top-ranked windows per station follow. "Low vs. sunrise" is minutes from the predicted low to sunrise; negative lows happen in twilight.
La Push, WA (NOAA station 9442396)
| Date | Low (ft) | Low time | Low vs. sunrise | Azimuth | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Jul 11 | −1.37 | 4:39 AM | −52 min | 45° | 74 (Good) |
| Sun, Jul 12 | −2.14 | 5:35 AM | +3 min | 56° | 97 (Exceptional) |
| Mon, Jul 13 | −2.70 | 6:26 AM | +53 min | 65° | 90 (Exceptional) |
| Sat, Jul 25 | −0.10 | 4:55 AM | −52 min | 49° | 42 (Fair) |
| Sun, Jul 26 | −0.48 | 5:40 AM | −8 min | 58° | 59 (Fair) |
| Mon, Jul 27 | −0.83 | 6:20 AM | +31 min | 65° | 63 (Good) |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9442396 predictions.
July 12 is the headline — a Sunday, with the low landing 3 minutes after sunrise — but July 13 is the deeper tide: −2.7 ft at 6:26 AM, still golden at 53 minutes past sunrise. This entry comes with homework: Olympic National Park says to "always carry a tide table, topographic map, and keep track of the time whenever hiking along Olympic's coast," and warns that several points along the coast are only passable at lower tides. Both mornings start in the dark — the July 12 window opens at 3:00 AM — which is exactly the situation the park's tide-table-and-map advice is written for.
Garibaldi, OR (NOAA station 9437540)
| Date | Low (ft) | Low time | Low vs. sunrise | Azimuth | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Jul 11 | −0.91 | 4:46 AM | −52 min | 47° | 63 (Good) |
| Sun, Jul 12 | −1.59 | 5:42 AM | +3 min | 57° | 88 (Great) |
| Mon, Jul 13 | −2.08 | 6:34 AM | +54 min | 66° | 90 (Exceptional) |
| Sat, Jul 25 | +0.25 | 4:51 AM | −61 min | 49° | 31 (Skip) |
| Sun, Jul 26 | −0.09 | 5:37 AM | −16 min | 58° | 48 (Fair) |
| Mon, Jul 27 | −0.40 | 6:19 AM | +25 min | 66° | 52 (Fair) |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9437540 predictions.
Same rhythm as La Push: the Sunday, July 12 low lands 3 minutes after sunrise here too, and Monday the 13th brings the depth (−2.08 ft). The late-July run is weak — the 25th earns a Skip band at +0.25 ft — so if you get one Garibaldi morning, make it the 12th or 13th.
Monterey, CA (NOAA station 9413450)
| Date | Low (ft) | Low time | Low vs. sunrise | Azimuth | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Jul 13 | −1.58 | 4:43 AM | −77 min | 49° | 69 (Good) |
| Tue, Jul 14 | −1.70 | 5:29 AM | −31 min | 57° | 79 (Great) |
| Wed, Jul 15 | −1.59 | 6:14 AM | +13 min | 64° | 81 (Great) |
| Thu, Jul 16 | −1.28 | 6:56 AM | +54 min | 70° | 75 (Great) |
| Tue, Jul 28 | −0.47 | 5:08 AM | −63 min | 55° | 43 (Fair) |
| Wed, Jul 29 | −0.51 | 5:39 AM | −32 min | 61° | 49 (Fair) |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9413450 predictions.
Monterey shows the daily march cleanly: over July 13–16 the low walks from 77 minutes before sunrise to 54 after, crossing dawn on the 15th. That Wednesday is the pick — −1.59 ft at 6:14 AM, 13 minutes into the light — with the 14th as the twilight alternative for anyone who likes their foregrounds blue.
La Jolla, CA (NOAA station 9410230)
| Date | Low (ft) | Low time | Low vs. sunrise | Azimuth | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Jul 3 | −0.22 | 6:17 AM | +32 min | 66° | 63 (Good) |
| Sat, Jul 4 | +0.06 | 6:48 AM | +62 min | 70° | 58 (Fair) |
| Wed, Jul 15 | −1.51 | 4:54 AM | −58 min | 55° | 68 (Good) |
| Thu, Jul 16 | −1.17 | 5:34 AM | −18 min | 61° | 66 (Good) |
| Fri, Jul 17 | −0.67 | 6:13 AM | +20 min | 67° | 64 (Good) |
| Sat, Jul 18 | −0.04 | 6:51 AM | +57 min | 72° | 59 (Fair) |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9410230 predictions.
Two things to know. First: the July 3 window is the morning of publication day itself — a modest −0.22 ft, but 32 minutes after sunrise on a holiday Friday, with the +0.06 ft low on the Fourth as the weekend fallback. Second, the trade: mid-July offers depth before dawn (−1.51 ft at 4:54 AM on the 15th) or light with less water (−0.67 ft at 6:13 AM on the 17th). Either way there is material underfoot while you wait — observers logged 138 Sorcerer's Dorid nudibranchs within 5 km of the station in the last 60 days, which is macro season by any definition.
Why does the whole calendar live in July?
Because the season is compressed. The next 120 days of predictions run through late October, yet all 24 top-ranked overlaps land between July 3 and July 29. The monthly counts explain it: La Push logs 19 daylight minus tides in July and 16 in August, then 6 in September and 3 in October (computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9442396 predictions). When the deep lows thin out and drift away from sunrise, the overlap scores sink with them.
How early should you arrive?
An hour before the low is the standard answer — La Push's July 12 arrive-by is 4:35 AM for the 5:35 AM low — but photographers have a better one: the window's opening time. That same window opens at 3:00 AM, which buys you blue hour and the low still falling. Pull any station's upcoming windows, with arrive-by times and these sun offsets, from the golden-hour tool. The tide does the composition twice a month. July 12–15 is when the light shows up to help.