This was our first camping outing since we got home from our desert tour in February and March. It was very relaxing although the weather was less than cooperative. It was very windy for 3 of the days and then it was foggy. But the foggy day, we left the beach and went to hike through the giant redwoods! So nice. We hiked a little over 20 miles the 4.5 days we were there. That actually felt good although I did get sore by the fourth day. Lots of sand hiking.
Our camp site/campground at Francis Beach was right on the sand dune overlooking the water. We didn’t see any cetaceans but we did see many different pinnipeds- elephant seals, sea lions and harbor seals. We heard there were Stellar sea lions nearby but we did not see them. It was nice in the campground because it was not overly crowded for a change. We did have a little problem with people walking through our site to get to the beach, grrr, but mostly it was quite nice. We had quiet neighbors and since it was windy we were mostly inside.
The first full day we drove down to Ano Nuevo and hiked in to see the MANY elephant seals that had hauled out for their molt. It is so weird!! It looks like a molted snake skin with hair! They actually grow hair under the old skin and then shed it off in hunks. Weird. We also saw some sea otters while on the hike. So cute! The little elephant seals were also cute and few bulls were still acting up, although they mostly just wrestled not fought. We also found Pie Ranch where Dave had a lemon buttermilk pie that he loved! Something new to try and figure out.
The second day we went on a hike along the coast through the bird refuge south of Francis beach. There were some people on the trail but we could get away from most of them. The funny part was all the dog walkers with 5+ dogs each. I guess the residents of HMB hire out that part of dog ownership. They all seemed to know each other. We were laughing at them trying to organize their furry charges.
The third day we went up to the Giant Redwoods. It was a crazy trail which was NOT where I meant to be. But the trees were awesome and we saw so many banana slugs. We almost had the trail to ourselves which is what we like. So although the trail was steeper than I like, the trail was nice, it was a perfect temperature and we got our workout. So of course, we stopped in downtown HMB and got a desert at the bakery! And our Oreos!
And finally we went to Pillar Point and walked quite a distance around the point. It was so pretty. We saw seabirds and the most amazing copse of trees with at least 4 Blue Heron nests. The chicks were SOOO loud when the parents came back to the nest. Dave had a great time photographing them. There were also all kinds of waterfowl in the marsh too.
All in all, it was a good break from being home and a fun start to our crazy May. I put some of my pictures here and will update them when Dave gets his downloaded. Have a great rest of your day!