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At Tomales
Point. The waves are all lined up beautifuly.
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Me and other friend started talking
about hiking in the Point Reyes National Seashore in the month of August.
But the timing was wrong. He was about to go abroad for 2 months, and visiting
Point Reyes in summer is a very bad idea. So, we waited until November.
When he came back to California, we started checking the weather. One weekend
seemed awesome. We called up couple of our friends, the friends called up
yet some more friends. In the end, total of 10 of us got together to go
hiking. It was a international group; 4 Americans, 2 Japaneses, 1 Estonian,
1 from Hong Kong, 1 British, and 1 Belgian.We represented many parts of
the world. But I can say this is a typical Silicon Valley mix. Most of us
were engineers or works in a technolgy sector. Still we were a great group.
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The view of Pierce Point Ranch from the parking lot. It is the oldest
dairy in the Point Reyes Nationa Seashore.
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First, we meet at Menlo Park at
8 o'clock. Then, we meet at Pierce Point Ranch parking lot at 10:00 am with
those who could not make the first meeting. Well, 2 hours was not enough.
Putting together group of 10 definitely takes some time. On top of it, I
underestimated the time to get to the Point Reyes. It took nearly 1 and
half hours from San Francisco. When we finally got together at the Pierce
Point Ranch parking lot, it was already 11:00 am; about 1 hour behind the
original schedule. There was another problem. Some wanted to see other parts
of the park, and other thought they were not ready for the 11 mile hike.
So, we decided to have the initial destination at a small pond about 3 miles
into the trail. |
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Monterey Cypress are the only few standing tree we saw during the
hike. We had lunch under these trees.
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It was really a fun loving
group. We talked about many places, travels, etc.Meanwhile we passed a
group of surfers, a few more tule elks, and many beautiful cliffs. And
when we reached our first destination, we felt it was too short. Everybody
was willing to go further. We found ourselves a nice spot under Monterey
Cypress (thanks for the correction, Alan!) for lunch. A fun conversation
continued during the lunch.
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Waves crashing at the Tomales Point.
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The About half a mile before
the tip of the Tomales Point, the trail disappear from the Point Reyes
map. The trail ends at a viewpoint over the western side of the cliff.
Quite a nice view. The rest of the hike is against the bushes, make your
own trail. Well that was in the spring time, so I heard. By November,
plenty of pioneers already have created athways, it was a very easy walk
to the Tomales Point.
The Tomales Point was impressive.
A wide view of the ocean, Bodega Head on horizon, a crashing waves...
Then, someone spotted a whale! Point Reyes is also famous for whale watching.
We all cheered and whenever we saw the whale. The whale revealed his back
several times, then disappeared into the Pacific Ocean. Well, it was the
time to head back. The same cliff looked quite different under the sunset.
Then, all of us were halted with a view of... hundreds of tule elks. They
were busy with eating their dinners. When we finished the hike, it was
almost dark. But everybody was satisfied. It was exceptionaly wonderful
trail, a beautiful day, and warm weather.
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