October 13, 2013
It's October. The elk are in rut and I haven't had a chance to go out to the tule elk reserve on Point Reyes yet. This would have been a great weekend for it. If it wasn't for that damned government shutdown, that is. I imagine the annual migrations are in swing at the wildlife reserves in the central valley as well. Those are closed as well. Yosemite? Closed. Muir Woods? Closed. Pinnacles? Closed.
Sigh.
What's a weekend adventurer to do?
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| Golden Eagle -- Carmel Valley, CA |
I decided to go for an old standby. Point Lobos. Like Pinnacles National Park, it's close by. I tend to go there when I haven't worked out a destination for the weekend. It's one of the best places I know of for seeing wildlife. I've always wanted to hike the entire reserve. It's not large, I think the loop is less than six miles long. I never seem to give myself enough time, though. I decided I'd make it around this time.
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| Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
I made it to Point Lobos at 12:30. The park would close at 7:00, a half hour after sunset. That would give me plenty of time to get around the big loop. I parked outside the reserve (saving the ten dollar entrance fee) and headed out on the South Plateau Trail. It's a pleasant 0.7 mile hike through a moss covered forest that ends at Gibson Beach, the Southernmost end of the reserve.
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| Harbor Seals -- Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
Bird Island is a very short hike from Gibson Beach. I've been there when there are thousands of birds on the island. Cormorants. Pelicans. Seagulls. I even saw a Night Heron the last time I was there. On this trip, though, there were maybe a hundred birds in total. I realized that this was the first time I'd been to Bird Island in the middle of the day. It's always been my last stop, always at dusk. I wonder if the birds are more plentiful at night or have they moved on for the winter?
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| China Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
I've also never seen so many people in the reserve as the crowd I encountered at Bird Island. I call it a crowd, that's probably an exaggeration. I spent about a half hour there and I probably saw about three dozen people in that time, maybe two. Considering I normally encounter a half dozen people there on a normal visit, it seemed crowded. The rangers weren't allowing any cars in when I entered because all of the lots were full, and I guess it makes sense it would be busy since all of the federal park facilities are closed.
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| Weston Beach, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
The tide was out, which made poking around in the tide pools and scrambling around on the rocks pretty easy. I saw a bunch of small anemones and hermit crabs. I also found a couple of pools with a few striped shore crabs inside. They were eating something off of the rocks, but whatever it was, I couldn't see it.
The surf was small, so I scrambled all the way out to the edge of the rocks. Keep in mind, my arthritic forty-six year old version of scrambling is probably different from a teenager's. I've been soaked by waves out there before, and I imagine it would be a dangerous place with a high, rough surf. There was nothing to worry about on this day, though. The swells were gentle and mild.
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| Weston Beach, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
There were a lot of harbor seals out on the rocks near Hidden Beach and later at Sand Hill Cove. Sometimes I think these seals have got life pretty much figured out. Lie around on the rocks all day. Hop into the water and eat some fish whenever you get hungry. I was reminded that a seal's life can be a little tough, though. One poor seal had got some wire or something caught on its neck. Another had a nasty looking cut on its belly. A seal's life isn't all nap time and snacks, I guess.
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| Harbor Seals -- Sand Hill Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
There was an injured elephant seal on the beach at Sea Lion Cove. The trail down was closed off and a ranger was positioned up top to keep people from going down. He said people had been throwing rocks at the seal earlier in the day so they had to close it off. I can not fathom the ugliness in a person's heart that it would take to do something like that. Hearing that reminded me of the stories of people shooting buffalo through the windows of trains as they passed through the open prairies in the early years of the transcontinental railroad. The inadvertent harm we do to this land and its inhabitants is bad enough, the seal with the wire caught 'round its neck being a fine example, we surely can't afford to continue this sort of outright maliciousness.I'm grateful for places like Point Lobos and frankly baffled by anyone that could come here and not treat the land and the animals with the respect they deserve.
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| Sea Lion Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
I'm not done with this soapbox yet. Eighty years is a good, long life. Two of my grandparents lived into their nineties and one seems determined to crack the century mark. I hope that doesn't mean my journey will be that long. Eighty years seem like the right amount of time to be alive on this Earth. It's a small window in time. Through this window we see the world as it has never been before and will never be again. We can't see dinosaurs or woolly mammoths through this window. We can't see grizzly bears in California. We can't see what's ahead, either. What we can do is treasure the view we have for the time we have, and we can not shoot the buffalo as we pass by. These are the things I think about as I go on these little adventures by myself.
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| Headland Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
There are only two remaining natural stands of Monterey Cypress left on this planet. One is the Allan Grove here in Point Lobos, the other being the grove a few miles up the coast at Cypress Point. These trees used to be more plentiful, but their range has diminished over the last fifteen thousand years as the climate has changed. Point Lobos was established specifically for the protection of the Allan Grove.
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| Allan Memorial Grove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
In 1890, Point Lobos was divided into lots to be sold for housing. It's a tale as old as time in California, isn't it? It would be called Point Lobos City. In 1898, Alexander Allan began buying up the lots. He recognized that the place was special. He was not going to be shooting any buffalo through his window, nor would he let anyone else if he could help it. He set the place up as a private park, charging an admission and allowing only a limited number of people in at any given time. Eventually, California bought the land from the Allan family and it became the reserve we know today.
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| Pinnacle Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
When I'm bummed out by the callous behavior of some people, it's nice to remember that there are others who have stepped up to take care of places like this. California's history is full of versions of this same story. The most famous is John Muir's fight to save Yosemite. His tireless work eventually led to the establishment of the National Park system. Muir is the most well known example of a California man who saw through his window something that he wanted to ensure others would be able to see as well, but he was one of many who stepped up. I'm not a particularly patriotic man, but I do feel a sense of pride when I think that the people that lived in this area of the world were some of the first to pull their guns back inside the train.
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| Cypress Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
OK. Enough preaching. Let's get on with the show . . .
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| The Old Veteran -- Cypress Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
A couple of trails were new to me on this loop. One of them was the North Shore Trail. It's 1.4 miles long and covers some slightly rough terrain, ending at Whaler's Cove. It's also got some fine views of the rocks and ocean and meanders through some nice forested areas. The Old Veteran can be easily viewed from a short spur trail near the Western end of the North Shore Trail. The Old Veteran is a gnarly old Monterey Cypress that clings to the side of a cliff. A lot of its roots are exposed and one can't help but wonder first how long it has been clinging to the side of the cliff and second how much longer can it hold out?
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| Whaler's Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
Whaler's Cove pretty much marked the end of the loop for me. From there, it was a short hike up the Carmelo Meadow Trail to the entrance of the park. The hike took me around six hours to complete, meaning I was averaging about one mile an hour on the hike. Obviously, I stopped a lot to look at things, explore interesting areas and take pictures. All in all, it was a great way to spend the day.
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| Whaler's Cove, Point Lobos State Reserve, CA |
Brown pelicans are just plain goofy looking. Don't tell them that, though, I'm sure they'd take offense. Brown pelicans have become fairly common around here. There are a couple of pilings in the estuary a block from my house where they will often roost.
Turkey vultures are very common in California. It's just about impossible to go for a drive anywhere and not see at least one circling around. They're not the prettiest of birds, but they're one of my favorites. Pinnacles National Park is a great place to see vultures up close. If you're lucky a condor will be around, too. Vultures are big birds, but they don't seem so big when they stand next to a condor.
Brown pelicans are just plain goofy looking. Don't tell them that, though, I'm sure they'd take offense. Brown pelicans have become fairly common around here. There are a couple of pilings in the estuary a block from my house where they will often roost.
Turkey vultures are very common in California. It's just about impossible to go for a drive anywhere and not see at least one circling around. They're not the prettiest of birds, but they're one of my favorites. Pinnacles National Park is a great place to see vultures up close. If you're lucky a condor will be around, too. Vultures are big birds, but they don't seem so big when they stand next to a condor.
I saw a handful of golden eagles this year. Awesome birds. They're hard for me to distinguish from turkey vultures from a distance. They don't wander around in the sky like a vulture, though, they always seem to have a purpose when they're flying. That was the case for the eagles I saw, anyway.
When I took my trip up to Olympic National Park last month I was hoping to see a bald eagle. I didn't see just one, I saw fifteen on that trip. That was a nice surprise. My dad was telling me there used to be one that lived in a tree just a couple of doors down from my parent's house. I've heard they've even been spotted in California, but I've never seen one.
Owls are cool. I've only seen one in the wild so far. It was at the end of what had been up to that point a disappointing trip to San Luis Wildlife Refuge. He/She was standing on a fencepost just as I left the refuge. That trip immediately became a memorable adventure.
