Palomarin Trail

Palomarin Trail1
.6 miles
1.5 hours
Start: Palomarin Trailhead
End: Palomarin Trailhead
Includes: Palomarin Trailhead, Coast Trail, Palomarin Trail, Palomarin Beach

Hike 55
December 12, 2013

The Palomarin Trail starts a short hike from the Palomarin Trailhead. It is marked by a giant eucalyptus.

From the trees, the trail opened into a lovely view of the ocean. It was a cold. The winter sun sparkled on the water.

I entered a grove of lush greenery. It was like a tropical rain forest - bushes and trees overgrown with flowering vines.

Bursts of yellow flowers were a surprise in December.

Greenery gave way to rocky cliffs; I made an awkward slide in my leather street boots down the last bit of cliff to the beach below.

A flight of cormorants ignored me.

Crunching along the shifting stones, I headed to the water's edge. With the sharp shards eroding from the surrounding cliffs meeting smooth hard stones from the sea, the beach was a study in geology.

I discovered a piece of dried, white coral firmly adhered to a rock. Holding it in the palm of my hand, I felt privy to the secrets of a complex and intricate relationship forged beneath the sea.

I sat on a log, took off my boots and hoped the lessons of this geologic landscape would seep into me. I wanted the long view, the cumulative hindsight of millions of years to inform and awaken my DNA. I wanted the capacity to reason within the wisdom of geologic time. These stones are kin; I needed only to listen and learn.

As I headed back on the trail, I caught sight of an orange California poppy in full bloom. I found it unsettling. It was as if I had stumbled into a wrinkle in time. It was winter everywhere else, but miraculously it was spring here; my heart could sing, my mind could wander and my body could rest from the inevitable march of time. I paused for a moment and happily continued down the trail towards the beginning and the end of my journey.