Point Reyes National Seashore: Tomales Point

October 4, 2014

Sam and I hiked out to Tomales Point on Saturday.  This is a hike I'm starting to make an annual event.  The trail goes straight through an elk reserve.  There are no fences or barriers.  the elk are right there, sometimes right on the trail.  In the fall, when the elks are in rut, I have a hard time imagining a better place to spend an afternoon.

Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Tule Elk

The weather has been extremely warm recently.  It was one hundred degrees out on the Point on Friday.  Saturday cooled down to a more respectable seventy degrees.  Well, at least until the fog rolled in late in the afternoon, then it got downright cold.  Perfect weather for a six mile hike out to the pond and back.

I always think of this as a fairly flat, simple hike, but it's actually kind of hilly.  It's not too tough, but I was surprised it wasn't as flat as I recall.

Tule Elk -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Tule Elk -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

The pond is three miles out from the parking lot.  There's usually a bunch of elk hanging out there.  As we rounded the bend that looks down on the pond, we were disappointed to see that the fields around the pond were empty.  What a disappointment.  We'd come very close to some elk along the trail, but this has always been a great spot to watch the elk in their rut behavior.  I thought we'd made the hike out there somewhat in vain, then we looked up the hill in the opposite direction from the pond.  There were probably twenty bachelors hanging out on the hillside.  A few of them were posing on the top of the ridge, others were scattered on the hillside with a few fairly close to the trail.

Tule Elk -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Coyote -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

We stopped for a break after climbing the hill from the pond.  We chilled out for a while, then we noticed a coyote was keeping an eye on us from the top of the ridge.  I guess he decided we weren't anything to worry about and wandered off in the direction of the bachelor elk.

Coyote -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

We bumped into another coyote a little farther down the trail.  He/she was taking a stroll right along our trail but headed in the opposite direction.  This coyote simply ignored us as it passed by.  That was the closest Sam had ever been to a coyote.  I have had one closer encounter in Death Valley, but it was spectacular seeing this animal so close.

Tule Elk -- Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Our hike ended in fog.  We'd been watching the fog bank rolling in from the Pacific over the course of our hike.  Even so, it pounced quite suddenly.  I'd been telling Sam earlier how much nicer Pierce Ranch looked in the fog.  I'm glad he was able to experience it.

Pierce Ranch, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Pierce Ranch, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA

Alameda / Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline

Just a few odds and ends from around the neighborhood over the last month or two.  Nothing too exciting, just some birds and things.

Ring-billed Gull -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

San Francisco, CA

USS Hornet, Alameda, CA

American White Pelican -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

American White Pelican -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

Great Blue Heron -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club

Fore!

September 21, 2014

We spent Sunday afternoon golfing in the rolling California hills near Patterson, CA.  None of us had ever played Diablo Grande, and we were pleasantly surprised.  We thought the photos online had probably been unrecognizably doctored, but that proved to not be the case.  Sure, the fairways were struggling a bit under the extreme drought conditions we're currently in, but the course was quite playable and the layout was a lot of fun.  Given the risk/reward aspects of some of the holes, I suspect this course would be fun to play on a regular basis.

Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club, Patterson, CA

Desert Cottontail

Of course, half of my interest was with the teeming wildlife.  There were many birds, especially birds of prey.  Hawks, kestrels and loggerhead shrikes were seen on just about every hole.  We saw a green heron on one of the holes, then ran into it again on a later hole.  That was a lifer for me, at least in terms of getting a photograph.  Beautiful bird.  We also saw a handful of deer and a couple of rabbits.

Colombian Black-tailed Deer -- Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club, Patterson, CA

Green Heron -- Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club, Patterson, CA

We also saw a mysterious animal on the eighteenth hole.  From a distance it looked like a skunk, but after examining the photos I'm fairly convinced it was the elusive chupacabra.

Chupacabra -- Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club, Patterson, CA

Pinnacles National Park

September 13, 2014

Soundtrack:

• Islands -- A Sleep & a Forgetting
• Opeth -- Pale Communion

If you've been camping with Pongo the picture above will look familiar even if the specific campsite doesn't.  There's Pongo's purple camping blanket where he'll spend most of the evening after he's done exploring as far as his leash will let him go.  He's got his leash wrapped around something again.  That never gets old.  He's got a big goofy grin on his face.  After the Grand Canyon trip, he's got this camping thing down.

Cattle -- San Benito County, CA

I didn't take a lot of pictures.  The pictures I did take were mostly of things Pongo finds interesting.  Well, I find the animals interesting, too.  He's really into cattle, maybe a little more than I am.

Horse -- San Benito County, CA

Pongo hasn't had a good look at a horse yet.  They're always either too far away or I can't get him to look in the right direction.  I think he's going to be a big fan of horses once he meets one.

Silly Colombian Black-tailed Deer -- Pinnacles National Park, CA

Colombian Black-tailed Deer

Pinnacles is noisy with wildlife at night.  The birds and crickets are loud in the early evening, and the crickets don't stop until the sun comes up.  Pongo woke me up in the middle of the night because of a dog barking nearby.  We got up and took a little walk.  The dog didn't start barking, and then I realized that bark sounded a little strange and it was moving.  When it started it was in the direction of some campsites, but it moved into the hills that aren't open to people.  It wasn't a dog, it was a coyote.  It even got off a few good howls at the end.  Needless to say, Pongo didn't sleep until the coyote had finished its midnight aria.

Bull -- San Benito County, CA

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

September 7, 2014

In better light that picture above would be extraordinary, wouldn't it?  If I was a serious photographer, I'd stake that site out to get that particular shot in the right light.  I might back up a little to try to get more of the dead cypress trees into the shot.  Then again, I like the way the rocks are set up in this shot,  I might just keep it as is.

Whaler's Cove, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

I spent the day at Point Lobos.  Love that place.  Great views.  Great wildlife.  Great trees.  It's one of the world's beautiful places.

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

Harbor Seal

Challenging light was the theme of the day.  Bright sunlight.  Dark clouds.  Shady trees.  You name it, I was probably dealing with it.  After battling the redwoods last week I was hoping to get off with an easy day.  No such luck.  Still, no complaints.  I don't think a rough day can be had at Point Lobos.  There's always some kind of magic in the air there.

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

Colombian Black-tailed Deer -- Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

Colombian Black-tailed Deer

A bumped into a young buck in the cypress grove.  He was a little nervous of me at first and remained a little wary throughout our encounter, but he ended up moving closer to me and crossing the trail only a few feet in front of me.  I didn't move one way or another.  I would never approach a wild animal, mind you, but I'm never quite sure what to do when they approach me.

Colombian Black-tailed Deer -- Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

The Old Veteran -- Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

I usually stop to get some pictures of the Old Veteran tree.  It's so much cooler than the more famous Lone Cypress on Seventeen Mile Drive.  Still, it's just a tree, and not even approachable.  It sits on the side of a cliff and there two spots about ten feet apart and two people wide on the opposite side of the cove that have clear views of the tree.  That's it.  Pictures are either taken from the left spot or the right spot.  On this particular day, clouds had obscured the sun by the time I reached the old tree, which you can kind of tell from the pictures.

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, CA

Brown Pelican

After for struggling with the light for a few hours at Point Lobos, I decided to change up the venue with the last hour or so of sunlight available.  I drove to Pacific Grove to catch the sunset on the beach there.  The situation was a lot better.  Almost immediately after getting out of the car I saw a whale (a humpback I think) just off shore.  I also saw sea otters and a couple of flocks of brown pelicans.  I watched the sun set then drove home, listening to the Giants game on the way.  Not a bad day at all.

Pacific Grove, CA

Pacific Grove, CA

Pacific Grove, CA