Bolinas Lagoon and the Marin Headlands

Pongo Finds His Groove
June 30. 2013

Soundtrack:

• Wire Train -- In a Chamber . . .
• Heatmiser -- Mic City Sons

If you know Pongo, you know he's a bit of a nervous dog.  He's a rescue dog who was picked up as a stray when he was probably five months old.  We suspect being a stray was probably traumatic for him.  Whenever I've taken him out in the past he's been OK for a couple of hours, but then he kind of shuts down and you can tell he just wants to go home.  That all seems to have changed with our last trip to Pinnacles National Park.  He seems to have figured out that he's not going to get lost and he's not going to be abandoned somewhere.  He seemed to have a lot of fun on that trip and this one.  I can see it's going to be harder for me to leave him at home for my weekend adventures.

Pongo Assumes His Navigator Duties

We stuck pretty close to home on this trip.  With the temperature expected to be 110 degrees in Sacramento, I wasn't about to head inland.  I figured the beaches would be jammed, but wanted to stay close to the coast.  I've been wanting to check out Bolinas Lagoon and saw that dogs were allowed on a leash, so that's where we headed.

Turkey Vulture on the Mud Flat

It turns out there's not a lot of hiking to be done around Bolinas Lagoon.  Highway One runs right along the shore.  There are plenty of turnouts, though, and it's easy to get right down to the water.  So, we stopped often and I took pictures while Pongo explored the water and mud.

Harbor Seals

You may have noticed Pongo's always on a leash in the pictures.  He's actually pretty good about sticking close to me.  When he's not hunting in the bushes along the trailside he keeps a close eye on me.  When he finds something in the bushes, though, he charges hard.  I suspect if it wasn't for the leash he'd pursue until he came to his senses and realized he's lost.  Perhaps in a couple of years he'll be ready to walk without a leash.  Until then, though, I suspect we're both more comfortable being tethered together.

Who's Barking?

After watching the birds and seals on the lagoon for a while, we headed down the coast.  We passed Stinson Beach, which was packed as I'd imagined it would be.  That wasn't our destination, anyway.  I wanted to checkout the Marin Headlands, which is a place I'd been a couple of times in high school during college visitations at Simpson.

Golden Gate Bridge

The Headlands have some of the best available views of the Golden Gate Bridge.  During World War II the Army built a bunch of big gun turrets on the hills which have been retained.  They're fun to explore.

An Unfinished Turret from World War II

The Point Bonita Lighthouse is out below the turrets at the Southwest point of the Headlands.  It's a working lighthouse that requires a suspension bridge to be reached.  I say it's working because the light was on when we were there, I'm not sure it's actually needed anymore, though.

Point Bonita Lighthouse

As usual, we saw a lot of deer as we walked along the trails of the Headlands.  Deer just aren't too bothered by people in these parts.  Counting those I see while driving to work, I suspect I see a deer as often as not on any given day, and they're almost guaranteed to be seen when going anywhere outdoors in Northern California.

Columbian Black-tailed Doe

This beautiful doe was serving as a lookout.  She was with almost a dozen other deer, including a few spotted fawns.  I watched the little ones hop around like schoolchildren while Pongo searched the bushes for a bird or squirrel.

We drove home through San Francisco.  There are no more toll takers on the bridge, the tolls are all electronic.  I suppose I'll get something in the mail.  All in all, it was a nice, mellow day for me and the dog.