At last my Point Reyes photos are all online (probably too many but I’m starting to use Flickr to archive them rather than just share the highlights.)  See the new Point Reyes set.

I used the audio recording feature on my camera to capture the following entries, then transcribed and minor editing when I got home.

[12:30PM June 28th.]

It’s about 12:30PM on Wednesday.  I’ve just come up a series of looping switchbacks up from Wildcat camp, where we spent the night.

Early this morning there was a little bit of drizzle that woke me up and so I was out and about down the beach by about 6:30.  The tide was very low, and there were lots of newly-washed up agates and polished quartz lying among the pebbles on the beach.  I collected rocks and photos for a while.

I came back to camp and encouraged the rest of the family to get up and get out on the beach while the tide was low because far down the beach to the South we could see Allsmere falls, which is a cataract of maybe 30 or 40 feet height coming right off the cliff, crashing down onto the beach and immediately into the ocean.  We could see that from our camp so we decided we would walk down the beach while the tide was still out and we could get by the cliffs which are sometimes reached by waves at high tide.

We had a lovely walk down there to the falls.  There were harbor seals; right by the falls there were dozens of pelicans and seagulls.  Lots of tidepools among shiny, striated rocks.  I climbed up the crevasse next to the falls to get to the top, to find a few more stepped falls with flowers everywhere.  It was beautiful!

Played on the sand for a while, then we came back to camp and it was still only noon.  I was hoping the family would come out with me to hike up north to Arch Rock, about three or three and a half miles up, but they declined with the drizzle and the lure of the beach.

So I’m going to climb Fir Top alone, and see if I can get above the fog.  It’s a mountain about 1394 feet above sea level.  So I set off with my water bottle and a camera, and I’ll see how far I get.

[12:50 PM June 28th]

So within 10 minutes of leaving Wildcat Camp, the camp was lost in the fog below.  Wildcat camp is a large, flat grassy area on the bluffs immediately before the beach.  There’s a small creek that runs through the meadow and down over the bluffs into the sea.  It’s a beautiful spot for a camp.

There’s a lot of wildlife.  Last night we saw a white deer (elk really) close in by camp, and I tried to creep close to take a picture which scared him off, along with three other deer that were nearby, two of them with nice racks.  Later on the white deer came back.

We also saw skunks lurking around.

And this morning Deanna surprised a bobcat on the way to the restroom, a large male munching on something by the side of the trail.  Deanna got very close but the bobcat wasn’t budging.  Eventually she had to shoo it off so she could get through.

This morning there were harbor seals, a dozen of them or so, down along the shoreline, slowly cruising the surf zone.

Of course the meadow is filled with birds as well - red-winged blackbirds and little finches of all kinds.  We saw an eagle (or something like) carrying a fish home for dinner last night as well.  And of course sand-pipers, pelicans, seagulls, turkey vultures cruising the edges of the bluffs, catching the updrafts.

Quite a wild spot.

But now I’m up in the fog, leaving the coastal chaparral behind and starting to enter denser woodland as I head inland.  I’m hoping at Fir Top I’ll be able to see above the fog.

[2:00PM June 28th]

Well as I climbed the gently winding road up from Wildcat Camp, it didn’t seem I would rise above the mist. In fact the fog got heavier, and as the fir trees grew larger each one scraped the mist from the sky and deposited a mini rainstorm underneath it.

But I persisted all the way to the top of Fir Top, which is a tree-covered hill with a little meadow in the middle of it.  No view to speak of.  There is a bit of sunshine - I can see mostly blue sky.  So I’m just above the fog, but no view to accompany it.

Each day here brings new appreciation for the natural world we’re immersed in.  It take a few days to clear your mind of the clutter of everyday life, and to really see the treasures that surround us - from the cliffs of twisted rock and the vast ocean, to the microscopic grains of agate on the beach.  Each pebble can be a masterpiece, and each flower filled with a humble glory.

The longer I stay, the more I see, both large and small.  I guess that’s the purpose of seeking the wilderness.