RSS A grand day out
Filed in Raven's QuestThe forecast for New Year’s Day was cold but clear. Bundled up, I headed down to the coast on 156 mile ride in search of landmarks. By the end of it I was freezing my buns off, riding in the dark, but the adventure made every bit of discomfort seem unimportant.
My first stop was Pigeon Point State Light Station Historic Park. I’d passed it many times, but had never actually “been.” Erected in 1872, the 115′ lighthouse is one of the tallest in America, and I get the impression that if they don’t raise enough funds soon, it will soon be nothing but a memory. Because of crumbling cornices the lighthouse is now closed to the public, but you can still go into the old fog horn building and watch a movie, and partake of a mini-museum with old maps and photographs. A slightly longer cliff-top path gives marvelous views of the elegant tower, the coast and the choppy green ocean below. For the terminally sleepy, the youth hostel offers cheap and cheerful accomodation in a row of old cottages.
From the signs I gathered that it’s also a good place from which to watch whales and other wildlife. I’ve never yet seen a whale, but down on the rocks below were a bunch of harbor seals, sunning themselves in the unseasonably warm day.
The next beach down was Gazos Creek State Beach. At the mouth of Gazos creek, the Portolà expedition made one of its approximately ten million billion campsites, which all apparently had to be recorded as state historic landmarks. I finally visited this one, the only one I’d missed in San Mateo County. No plaque for this landmark, and the campfire had long since been kicked over–just a beautiful, silvery beach and a view of the lighthouse in the distance. I was struck by the richness of the foliage and how the different layers fit together as I walked down. There was a fine view of the lighthouse from down here, and I wandered happily up and down the beach, looking at pebbles and the criss-cross of footprints.
Third and final stop was Año Nuevo State Reserve. I couldn’t resist being here on New Year’s Day! As it turns out Spanish explorer Viscaino passed the headland and named it Punto de Año Nuevo on the third of January 1603, not the first. You’re not supposed to be able to get in without reservations, but I said that I was here for the historic buildings and the ranger took my $6.00 and let me through. This is the site of a state landmark–the Steele Brothers Ranch. They made their fortune in butter and cheese when everybody else was doing agriculture, but the industry changed after WWII and the land was eventually turned into a state reserve.
I poked around in the visitor center for a while and then on a whim asked if there were any places left on the tours. As it turned out there were, and I ended up getting a place on a tour that had already departed! I huffed and puffed my way along to catch them, not realizing that in fact the tour was a fairly strenous three mile round trip! When I found out I almost gave up, but the friendly ranger said that I was welcome to come along and if I was too tired they could send me back with a different group. I decided to stay.
This area, including Añ Nuevo Island which back in Viscaino’s time was marked down as Año Nuevo Point–erosion happens–is one huge breeding ground for the northern elephant seal. The tour guide laid out the rules, associated with not being squashed by the animals, and then lead us up sand dunes to view hundreds of the huge animals. Every few feet the massive bulk of seals lay passively, not caring whether we were there or not; it was amazing to be within 25′ of 5000 pound animals! The males were roaring–the sound was somewhere between the cronk of an outboard motor and a gratutious, echoing belch. But they don’t move fast, and we were quite safe so long as we “behaved.” It was still early in the season, and the seals weren’t doing much else other than flapping sand on themselves to keep cool. They prefer the cold, and today it was a good sixty degrees.
His voice full of passion and enthusiasm, the guide filled us in on details as we went there, but when we reached the reserve proper we just concentrated on tiptoing through the seals. Here are some interestingnesses:
- The babies are born weighing sixty pounds, and in four weeks of feeding on 55% fat milk rise to 300 lbs. Some, stealing milk from two or more females, become “super-weaners” and can be twice that!
- The males are the only ones with “trunks.” The bigger the trunk, the older the animal. For elephant seals, size does matter.
- The animals only started to arrive here in the late Sixties; despite being huge they have no defence against predators, so they needed an island location.
At four weeks old the mother abandons the baby and from then on instinct and instinct alone teaches it to swim, hunt, etc.
- The females stick together on land as a defence against the overly aggressive and annoying males.
- After four years, only twenty percent of the young seals survive.
- It’s amazing that the species survived at all. In the late 19th century it is estimated that only fifty remained. The Smithsonians were so excited to hear of a new colony in Baja that they went and killed seven of them for specimens. Fortunately, they made it and now there are 100-150,000. They first started showing up in this area in the 1960s.
- They have one of the longest migrations for mammals: something like 3,000 miles — and they do that twice a year. Their feeding grounds are in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska.
The “baby” pictured above was about a year old, and kept breathing in sand which it then promptly sneezed out in great clouds!
I was tired by the end! It was hard walking all that way in my motorcycle boots; “these boots aren’t made for walking.” Even though for days after I was stiff and in pain, this spontaneous adventure was worth every ache. I was just glad that the dunes weren’t their original size of 150 feet.
The Ohlone Indians used to live here, dying out with the coming of the Europeans, and we saw the stick-like arroyo willow that they had used for making baskets, healing–it has the same active ingredient as aspirin–and many other things besides. Many ships were wrecked off the coast, and in fact one big chunk of wood was set up near a historical marker.
Footsore and weary, I limped back, and was rewarded by a glorious sunset and the sight of a deer coming out into the dusk.
Summary
- #107 #0930 Pigeon Point Lighthouse
A Man Called Intrepid - #108 #0023 Portolá Expedition Camp, Gazos Creek
Holes - #109 #0906 Steele Brothers Ranch
Up Country - #110 #0906-1 Steele Brothers Ranch: Chapman Steele II Home
Empire of the Sun
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2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Becky (7 comments.)
Gorgeous photos. I spent some time just staring earlier and breathing. There are interesting and even a few pretty things in the Houston area, but there is no kind of beautiful vista, especially in nature, around here. It’s one of the drawbacks. I especially miss mountains–or even hills! Our high points are highway overpasses…
Jan 16th, 2007
Linda R. Moore
Thanks! That’s about what I do at the coast too — stand and look and breathe. It’s incredibly peaceful for me beside the ocean. (I guess growing up on an island helped!)
For cities, I often find that parks are a good second best.
Is Galveston pretty?
Jan 16th, 2007
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