Point Reyes National Seashore - Part 2

Our hike has now taken us closer to the Lighthouse and the 300 steps leading to it. (down to get there, up to get back).

Whale skull and sedimentary rock formation

Rock formation with small tree

First glimpse of the Pacific through the mist

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Lighthouse in the mist as seen from the stairway

Algae, moss & lichens where the mist blows through

Red algae on building below the lighthouse

Lighthouse with original light inside

Sketch of the light

We were impressed with how beautiful this 1870 piece of machinery was, and asked the park docent about it.  It was built for the 1867 Paris World Fair as an exhibit and happened to be the size (largest) that the French Fresnel Lens company made.  That was the size ordered for the Point Reyes Lighthouse, so it was disassembled after the fair and shipped to Point Reyes.

Looking up into the lens area

The turning mechanism

The gears

The rocky shore near the Lighthouse

At the foot of the Lighthouse cliff

As the fog begins to lift

Time to head back from the Lighthouse.

A view of the steps from the Lighthouse area

Another look at the Pacific

Fascinated by the red algae on the rocks

Grass, moss and lichens, too

The final 150 steps

Erick checks out a tiny evergreen growing out of the rock

Erick's trick camera work, and my proof that I actually made the trip.
I guess he didn't think the trees had enough of a tilt to them.  <wink>

Continued in Part 3

Point Reyes National Seashore - Part 1

After four days of unusually warm weather for October (high 80's, low 90's) here in the Oakland Hills, we decided to head for Point Reyes National Seashore for a visit to the Pacific Ocean.  There is so much to see there, even in the half day we spent, that I'm diving the photos into several blog posts.

On the road to Point Reyes in West Marin County:

Coastal forest

Dunes

At the Bear Valley Visitor Center - lots of great exhibits:

Elephant seal - male

Female with pup

Whale skull

Great Blue Heron

Wadding birds

Other critters in the area

Our main goal for the day was to visit the historic Lighthouse which opened in 1870.  More about it's history here: http://www.nps.gov/pore/historyculture/people_maritime_lighthouse.htm.

 

Here are some scenes from our journey to the Lighthouse:

From the car on the road from Bear Valley to the Lighthouse

Coastal mist on the hike to the Lighthouse

A whale watching spot - if you are here in the right season and there is no mist

Moss & lichens love the misty coast

Info kiosk

Guess which way the wind blows off the ocean

The explanation for the 2000 hours/year of fog at the Lighthouse

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This is what we could have seen on a clearer day, or perhaps if we had arrived in the afternoon instead of mid-morning.

Continued in Part 2

Of Animals and Plants

Finally, photos of our "midnight marauder" taken around dusk last week. The critter keeps trying to break into our store of oil sunflower seeds - and it eats the ones that have fallen from the bird feeder.

Lovely stripes, 'eh?

And a nice long bushy tail

Cut flowers are always in order, but it seems strange to be buying live plants at the end of September. The climate supports them year-round, so we're takimg advamtage of that.  Today we drove to Lafayette, CA (about 10 miles away) to buy the "bottle brush" plant we've been looking for. Of course, we found several other plants to take home, plus a nice pot for the new addition to our balcony and deck plant family.

This bouquet has "Fall" written all over it.

Callistemon "Little John" - aka bottle brush plant -
a bush variety rather than the tree one.

A better look at where the nickname comes from.

Pansies purchased today

The second bloom for a carnation that I bought in May

It's nice to have fresh basil in easy reach.

Orchard Nursery where we bought the bottle brush plant is very near the Lafayette Reservoir, a nice area for hiking and picnicing.  We stopped by briefly to check it out.

We were a bit surprised to see the tower.
(The reservoir is on a 925-acre (3.74 km²) site and holds 1.4 billion US gallons (5,300,000 m³) 

The reservoir is stocked with bass (didn't see any).

Were noticing changes in the sky as we move into Fall.

Canyon side the morning after a rain

Evening Mt. Diablo

Bay side during the day