Posted by Karen on 11-Aug-2006
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We cross back over the stateline and Crescent City is the first town of size you find on the north coast. The town is smaller than I expected, but it’s very quaint. We decide to head straight to the beach and check it out before finding a motel to stay for the night. We just keep driving west and at the end of the road is the ocean! We climb down a rickety old metal staircase to reach the beach and just take it in for a bit. Battery Point Lighthouse is to our left and since it’s dusk the lighthouse lamp is flashing slowly and adds to the atmosphere. We watch some harbor seals playing out on the rocks in the distance. We follow the “scenic route” signs and check out the pier, which is just past the sea monster on top of a garage! We see the sign for Ocean World and say, yeah, we gutta check this out. We pay our entrance fee and enjoy a delightful sea lion show, touch the star fish and anemones in the tidepool touch tank, ohh and aha at the many fish, sharks and batrays and finally get to pet a small tiger shark, which feels very weird. A fun little stop, but now it’s time to find dinner and a place to sleep.
Posted by Karen on 02-Jun-2006
(Click the photo for all 69 photos)
Paige from the NorCal Hikers Yahoo Group organized a campout to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the islands in the Channel Islands National Park. Candace, Lisa and I left Sacramento Thursday night after work and headed down south to Ventura (near Los Angeles). We caught some Z’s at the Motel 6 and then were up bright and early to meet Paige, David and Rebecca (Bex) at the Island Packers dock for the boat ride over to the island. The boat ride to the island is about 20 miles and took about 1.5 hours and was pretty smooth sailing, unless you’re susceptible to sea-sickness. We arrived at the island while it was still shrouded in morning fog, but once that burned off, it was gorgeous sunshine for the rest of the weekend. Once we debarked, everyone formed a line and as people’s packs and stuff were unloaded from the boat, we tossed them to each other down the pier, in the old fire-bucket-brigade style. Once the boat was unloaded, we shouldered our backpacks and made our way down the long, hard, arduous road–all 1/4 mile of it!! After we settled into camp and enjoyed lunch, we took the short Cavern Point Trail next to camp and walked up into the clouds (or fog) and enjoyed a nice view of the island and Scorpion Anchorage Harbor from above. As dusk settled in, I glanced up and spotted the little island foxes that we would see on and off during the weekend. They are native to the island and were nearing extinction, but efforts are underway to preserve them. These cute little foxes were just as comfortable coming into the camp area as Henry the Seagull was as he was vigilantly on the prowl for unsecured food. He was rewarded once today that we saw, the folks at the next camp over left their food out and then walked away. Night settled in and there was a little breeze, but it was a nice night and the half-moon provided so much light, it was very pretty. We took a walk down to the pier and when David trained his flashlight on the pitch black water, little phosphorous fish were revealed that created long flowing trails in the water. Paige took some night photos and then we all called it a night.
Posted by Karen on 11-Mar-2006
(Click photo for all 114 photos)
Candace and I had originally planned to join Maria and Francis for a weekend of camping at Point Reyes Coast Camp, but the weather prediction of freezing temps caused me to bail out. Yes, I’m a cold-wimp!! But, we decided to dayhike in and visit them and enjoy a nice day at Point Reyes National Seashore. Candace and I took the Laguna Trail in; this week the trail is aptly named, as much of it was under inches of water and mud from the recent storms. We found Maria and Francis at their Coast Camp site and stopped to visit and lunch with them. We shared some wonderful fresh bread and cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery that we brought in as a peace offering for bailing out on camping. After a leisurely lunch, Candace and I headed down the Coast Trail, checking out rock formations and land crevices. When we came to the cutoff path for the south end of Sculptured Beach, we turned and took it. Sculptured Beach normally resides under water during high tide, but by this time of the afternoon, the tide was around mid-tide and we walked back along the beach enjoying the wonderful cuts and washouts in the cliffs that give the beach it’s name. Checking out the tide pools, we saw mussels clinging to the rocks, several Bat Starfish and I saw what I think was a sea urchin. At the end of the afternoon, we headed back up the Laguna Trail and made our way back to the car with only a few raindrops on our head. It was a nice day at the beach between storm systems.
GPS Stats: • Odometer: 7.13 miles • Total Time: 6.06 • Moving Time: 3.11 • Overall Average Speed 1.2 mph • Moving Average Speed: 2.2 mph
