Exploring Point Reyes
Last week was another busy one at work – I’m just getting into my new role in the Linguistic QA department. I also had Spanish class on Tuesday (am miffed because didn’t get an A+ in the test, in spite of having a score of 97% ;-)), went out with a friend on Wednesday (ate at a *not very good* garlic-themed restaurant, then had cocktails in a rather better establishment) and went to step class on Thursday. Jon arrived back from his week at the test event in New Hampshire late on Friday night. He’d had lots of snow there, so was happy to return to the Spring-like climes of California.
We didn’t do a lot yesterday: chores, food shopping, a short run. Jon was pretty tired from his week. We did get cracking with planning our Alaska holiday, though, and I’ve sent a reservation request for a camping trip late June/early July (see the details here: http://www.travelalaskaoutdoors.com/tours_classicalaskan_7.htm).
Today, we got up early and headed out on a trip to Point Reyes. This is the large coastal wilderness area a little way up the coast. It’s actually an errant bit of the earth’s crust on the Pacific plate, separated from the mainland by the San Andreas fault, and it's been travelling up the coast from Mexico for the last several million years at an average rate of two inches per year. Although I’ve visited the area a few times, I’d never been up to the far north-west, which is almost 2 hours’ drive from San Francisco. It was forecast to be a beautiful day, so we went up there in the hope of seeing whales, which are beginning their migration north about now.
The drive there in itself is amazing. We took Highway 1, which clings to the rocky coastline, but also offers views of the interior to Mount Tamalpais, before passing through Stinson Beach and by the tidal Bolinas Lagoon. We had to leave our car at the visitor centre at Point Reyes and take a shuttle bus to the two main visitor spots in that area: the lighthouse and Chimney Rock. It was very, very windy, but the views were wonderful, as it was such a beautiful, cloudless day (something to be appreciated in a spot that is often shrouded in mist). It was a tiring hike back up the (300?) steps from the lighthouse. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any whales (although 5 were observed yesterday), but we did see plenty of other wildlife, including murres (penguin-like birds), several deer (from our picnic spot), elephant seals (babies and big-snouted males), an owl, falcons, scoters and vultures. The views from the path to Chimney Rock especially were fabulous – on the one side was the Pacific Ocean and on the other, Drake’s Bay, so-called because Sir Francis himself landed there when the area was inhabited by Miwok Indians and called it Nova Albion, as the white cliffs reminded him of Dover. Back at the visitor center, we took a little stroll onto the beach, before heading off.
En route (actually, following a small detour), we stopped at our favourite eating place in the area, Coast Café in Bolinas. I am now very stuffed of oysters (from Drake’s Bay!) and chips, having washed it down with a champagne cocktail called an “epicentre” (what else?!). Bolinas is famous for being a hippy hang-out, and indeed someone who looked like “Wurzel Gummidge with war-paint” (I’m quoting Jon here) did drift in. After dinner, we returned to San Francisco, stopping to admire the stars along the way, as there’s no light pollution out there. Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/day-trip-to-point-reyes/ (password: moocow).
We didn’t do a lot yesterday: chores, food shopping, a short run. Jon was pretty tired from his week. We did get cracking with planning our Alaska holiday, though, and I’ve sent a reservation request for a camping trip late June/early July (see the details here: http://www.travelalaskaoutdoors.com/tours_classicalaskan_7.htm).
Today, we got up early and headed out on a trip to Point Reyes. This is the large coastal wilderness area a little way up the coast. It’s actually an errant bit of the earth’s crust on the Pacific plate, separated from the mainland by the San Andreas fault, and it's been travelling up the coast from Mexico for the last several million years at an average rate of two inches per year. Although I’ve visited the area a few times, I’d never been up to the far north-west, which is almost 2 hours’ drive from San Francisco. It was forecast to be a beautiful day, so we went up there in the hope of seeing whales, which are beginning their migration north about now.
The drive there in itself is amazing. We took Highway 1, which clings to the rocky coastline, but also offers views of the interior to Mount Tamalpais, before passing through Stinson Beach and by the tidal Bolinas Lagoon. We had to leave our car at the visitor centre at Point Reyes and take a shuttle bus to the two main visitor spots in that area: the lighthouse and Chimney Rock. It was very, very windy, but the views were wonderful, as it was such a beautiful, cloudless day (something to be appreciated in a spot that is often shrouded in mist). It was a tiring hike back up the (300?) steps from the lighthouse. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any whales (although 5 were observed yesterday), but we did see plenty of other wildlife, including murres (penguin-like birds), several deer (from our picnic spot), elephant seals (babies and big-snouted males), an owl, falcons, scoters and vultures. The views from the path to Chimney Rock especially were fabulous – on the one side was the Pacific Ocean and on the other, Drake’s Bay, so-called because Sir Francis himself landed there when the area was inhabited by Miwok Indians and called it Nova Albion, as the white cliffs reminded him of Dover. Back at the visitor center, we took a little stroll onto the beach, before heading off.
En route (actually, following a small detour), we stopped at our favourite eating place in the area, Coast Café in Bolinas. I am now very stuffed of oysters (from Drake’s Bay!) and chips, having washed it down with a champagne cocktail called an “epicentre” (what else?!). Bolinas is famous for being a hippy hang-out, and indeed someone who looked like “Wurzel Gummidge with war-paint” (I’m quoting Jon here) did drift in. After dinner, we returned to San Francisco, stopping to admire the stars along the way, as there’s no light pollution out there. Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/day-trip-to-point-reyes/ (password: moocow).
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