Tomales Bluff

Tomales Bluff
9.4 miles
4.5 hours
Start: Pierce Point Ranch
End: Pierce Point Ranch
Includes: Pierce Point Ranch, Tomales Point Trail, Tomales Bluff

Hike 61
January 17, 2014

This was my third trip to Tomales Point this month, but this time I was going all the way to the end, to Tomales Bluff. Last year, I started this project with a hike there:  Winter Solstice 2012.

What a difference a year makes! Now the weather was beautiful. Last time I hiked in a storm and could see nothing by grey clouds and rain. There was no view from Tomales Bluff. I went all that way to turn around and hike back in the driving rain. This day was going to be different.

Tule elk grazed and lazed all about.

I passed the pond where the elk like to hang.

Later, I went through the windbreak of cypress trees where Lower Pierce Point Ranch used to be.

I passed a group of black-tailed deer grazing far out on the point near guano-covered Bird Rock.

Then I was onto the sand path toward Tomales Bluff.

Tomales Bluff ocean view in Point Reyes.

Reaching the bluff above the Pacific, I approached the edge and stretched forward. My eyes received a visual feast: giant boulders poking dramatically from churning surf, the water deep and cold. I swooned in the sunlight. How wonderful to see this now!

On the Tomales Bay side, a group of cormorants sunned on the rocks.

I discovered some humans doing the same. Down to the right were smooth, sandstone platforms ideal for lolling in this remote spot.

I documented my presence with a photo for when I'm 100; I'll remember my beautiful life and wistfully say "I was so young."

Heading back, I was excited to see the tule elk had moved closer to the road. I sat awhile watching, ruminating on their ruminations.

Further on, turkey vultures circled a lone crow. I imagined the crow thinking nervously "I don't feel like carrion..."

Three lady elk stood sleepy-eyed and snuggly by the side of the trail.

And then there, right across my path, loped a huge coyote. He was so big, at first, I thought he was a wolf. Then I remembered wolves don't live in Point Reyes. He looked thirsty; we were into a long drought. He was walking, head down, in the direction of the point. There was that fresh water pond where the tule elk go.

I was so excited to have him so close I didn't get a picture until he was on the hill above me. I caught just his head looking in my direction. It made me nervous. Had he caught wind of the water bottle in my backpack...?

At trail's end, I found Pierce Point Ranch bathed in the warm light of late-afternoon sun.

The drought had been a pleasure in one way: endless days of summer in mid-winter. Seeing that coyote made me think of the downside. The animals were getting thirsty. Also, the elk's grass was getting sparse. All living creatures rely on water.

The kid's curriculum talks about water and how it connects ecosystems. The lesson follows a river from the high mountains to the sea. Water is constantly in motion, evaporating and raining down again. What a beautiful system! We are all in the same stream: drinking, bathing, swimming. Water is the circulatory system of the earth. If we keep it clean and healthy, we will be healthy, too.