We decided to go to the beach and leave cell phone coverage behind the week after Dave retired from PBI. The weather was nice although breezy at times. This is not the time of year to see whales so we went looking for the elephant seal pups at Point Reyes!
We had our very first, original campsite at Wright’s Beach – away from the sand on the eastern side of the bathroom. Next to the campground hosts. It wasn’t as bad as I feared. We still heard the waves and we had a view out of the dining room window of the beach. It is soooo hard when these sites reserve out 6 months in advance!
Our drive to Point Reyes was quiet and we did find a new treasure – Valley Ford Cheese creamery. Yummy focaccia and cheese curds – garlic flavored, of course! Makes me think I will try sourdough focaccia soon! When we stopped at the visitor’s center at Point Reyes, we found out most of the park was open (except the lighthouse because it isn’t open on Wednesday!). We also found out there were “loser” male elephant seals at Drake’s Beach, pretty close to the parking lot. So off we went! We found an elk herd along the drive that had one male with antlers but many pretty pregnant females. The bull seemed pretty tired and never stood up. so Dave finally took a picture of him laying down! It is so weird at PR that you drive along roads of permanent farms – literally through the middle of dairy farms for example! At least most of the roads have been improved lately because they were getting some pretty deep potholes!
We got to Drake’s Beach and the bull elephant seals were up next to the sidewalk. There were bright orange barriers to keep the males from wandering out into the parking lot and to protect those of us crazy enough to want to see them. Most were asleep during their haul out but we watched one male wake up and charge another males within a minute. For such gigantic “pillowy” creatures, they can move fast. Most of these males have been removed from the breeding beaches but he dominant males, and have many wounds/gashes on them. The docent was explaining about the noises they make by rumbling within their “trunk/snoz. As they get older, the trunk grows and the rumble become deeper. There was a 4-5 year old male there – and he definitely was going through puberty. It was so funny. He acted so studly and posturing – until another male lifted his head at him and then he “panicked” and moved away. Reminded me of the boys at Barrett! His rumble was a bit squeaky instead of intimidating!
Then Dave and I decided to hike to where we heard about the young pups – and found one newborn pup. He was squalling away because mom didn’t seem to have figured out how to roll over and feed it. She was one of the smaller females and I thought this might be her first pup. They eventually figured it out and he was a lot quieter!
We got the chance to stay an extra night (someone canceled for Friday night) so we stayed and hiked out of Jenner Nature preserve. It is part of the Wildlife Conservancy and a nice area to hike. This time we did what is called the sea to sky trail – pretty steep up and back down with a few flat area. It was so pretty looking out over the ocean!
Then we had to head home to start getting ready for our next adventure! I sure do like getting away with Tut and especially now that we have Little TailGater to go out and about now. I’m sorry I can’t add smell to this blog or sound – it is so relaxing and fresh out on the coast! You can use the link below to find Dave’s much better photos of the trip! Bye for now!