It's cold ! - California Coast

28th March 2009

Pictures 2009 (still uploading)
Pictures 2007

Salt Point State Park is my all time favorite place and I was happy to start the camping trips of the year with it. I was the first one to reach the campground. It was nice to have the whole area for myself for some time. It looked like field of purple iris and home for the stellar jays. After pitching my tent and finishing my brief lunch, I set out for a short walk on the Salt Point Trail. As I drove to the trailhead I recollected the experience two years ago. I was naive then. All my robe was for the sunny tropical beach, shorts, cotton shirt and no warm clothes at all. I almost froze in the icy clod night, and my condition was so pathetic then that I could even hug a raccoon for warmth. This time I was prepared with numerous sweaters and jackets, gloves, beanie etc. Still we cannot overpower nature.



The trail was full of solitude. In the first quarter of a mile, occasionally a couple or a family would pass me with a friendly smile. I know people drive all the way up to here, camp and walk along the trail, all this just to look at the ocean … standing on the cliffs they join the gulls perched on the small rocky island by the beach. As I walked along the coast few bunches of purple iris greeted me. Isn't Iris a beautiful name ? In greek it means rainbow. May be because of the wide range of flower colors, purple, pink, white, lavender, yellow and some mixed colors.


It seems back in 1800s, the streets and buildings in San Francisco were constructed with the sandstones slabs cut out of the cliffs of this park. I could see the eyebolts where the ships were anchored at Salt Point while the slabs of sandstones were loaded, the drill holes stood as evidence of quarry. I sat there for a moment picturing the days of quarrying. How busy this place could have been … with people soaked in the dust of sandstone, the noise of the drill, people shouting at top of their voices to be heard, the ship horns and the ocean resisting not to cut those beautiful rocks. Now, there was a big group of divers, may be beginners, doing little of the adventure. Once all of them cleared the cove I thought of clicking few waves. The cove was peaceful, not in the direction of the wind. But, from there I could see the passionate dance of wind and ocean together, splashing the water up above the high cliffs. The pattern was repeated, low, low, high, moderate, high, higher, higher and wow what was that ?, then high, low ... not sure how long I was sitting there ... I felt the waves were now touching my feet. Felt like the ocean raised up to touch me :)


As I walked along I was reliving the memories from the past. I passed by looking at those rocks with camera gear on my back. I was looking for those honeycomb-like tofani formations which the Salt Point State Park is famous for. And doing so I went down the cliffs hopping over a rock then another and then one more and so on ... I sat there on top of a rock where I stopped hopping and watched the waves. I wondered looking out to the ocean ... so much of water ... has anybody measured how much it is ? how many gallons ? huh ? I couldn't see anybody around. Could any soul feel my presence here in spite of the roar of the eager waves coming home ? The ocean made me feel so small. I took few long exposure shots of waves crashing the rocks. How we fool ourselves huh ? The ferocious wave which I witnessed actually came on a war against the rocks and crashed over them to cut them into pieces but, in the process was thrown into millions of water drops splashed across the cliff. But then I show people the picture of a wave which is so milky, moving so slowly smothering over the rocks ! There was a lone gull separated from its colony perched on the high cliff, staring at the horizon. Waves came and went gull stood there doing nothing. Was it imitating me ? :) Not sure how these birds withstand the force of the wind ?


It seems tafoni is an Italian word for cavern. When the waves crash into the sandstones the salt in the ocean water causes a natural phenomenon of carving the sandstone faces into interesting network of honeycombs in the pits, knobs and ridges. Much else was hidden in much deeper tide pools. As I glanced a bit far I could see the mussel colony shining, soaked in the water, reflecting the sunlight with a faint rainbow of colors. They reminded me of moss sticking to the tree trunk. These were sticking to the rocks. I was sitting there with random thoughts passing by my mind. I could see small pools and ponds over the rocks. They were filled with fresh water every time a wave crashed on them. Just like the thoughts collect in our minds. A huge wave came out towards the rock I was perched on, like a huge tongue of the ocean trying to gulp whatever it could, including me and my beloved camera gear. I was stunned and my mind blank, I took one step back and stood there motionless watching it. In a split second it came gushing over the rocks and splashed all over me and my backpack pushing me another step back. In that eternal moment I thought that monster wave would pull away the ground/rock below my feet. Next, I was still standing feeling the cold water and smell of salt.


It was cold, the wind was harsh and icy. I was wearing all the sweaters, total 4, I had in my car. The woolen soaked in ocean salt water was not pleasant. That smell and cold was unbearable. So, I walked back to the car as fast as possible. Even after changing the clothes my limbs, fingers and face were numb. The wind was bringing millions of sharp icicles to pierce my skin until I wore my windsheeter. Again I went back ...

After walking about a mile or so there I saw a cove ... big rocks and pebbles everywhere. On two of the big rocks I saw a family of harbor seals resting. I have never seen these guys doing anything else. Up on the top of the cliffs the wind was blowing everything away. Deep in the cove the ravishing waves were washing everything they touched, including these lazy friends. Seals slept no matter what. Occasionally moving their heads up with a look 'whatz going on ?' I thought they wouldn't feel my presence in that harsh weather. But I was wrong. When I clicked the first picture the seal looked in my direction !! The seal could hear the click of shutter through the howl of the wind and roar of the waves. Bottom-line, they are not as lazy as they look. And next moment it ignored me and went back to rest.


I saw something moving far away ... well I was sharing the trail with another human soul now. When he came in the proximity I said 'hello' ... but, then it sounded funny ... I felt my face was frozen and my lips weren't moving as I wanted. We spoke like spastics ... crazy !! That moment I thought I had to return. I walked back as fast as I could and then hid behind a big rock from the crazy wind. I sat there waiting for sunset. For all that effort the sunset seemed very plain. My hiking tripod (I mean to say the light and compact one) was brave to stand against the crazy angry wind, but not strong enough to stand still. It trembled and shivered so much that all the long exposure shots were blurrrrry. I heard something moved behind the rocks ... I stood on my toes and raised my neck to see a grey baseball cap with Nike logo on it. It slowly raised from behind the rocks and saw a grandpa smiling. He was there to shoot the sunset.


I went back to the campground. Now it was bustling with people. People around the picnic tables cooking supper, people sitting around the fire, people putting up their tents and so on … I was greeted by a few whom I know. I was hungry and soon I finished the supper and sat beside the fire … so comforting … people were talking many things … someone happy that she got a big comforter to sleep, another was sad that her sleeping bag didn’t make it to the campground, someone was talking about preparing pancakes for next morning breakfast … someone who worked in Scotland was drinking lots of beer, someone passed on yummy (Bacardi?) rum cake. A cute raccoon paid its visit during the session.

The force and chill of the wind reached its heights with the darkness of the night. Sound of the ocean mixed with sound of the wind accompanied the rattling of my tent as I went to sleep. It was perfect forest night, only thing missing was howl of coyotes. My tent was a little aloof from others and also from the cooking tables. So, rustling of leaves when people walked to the restrooms or the raccoons ransacking the food baskets didn’t bother me.

In the morning, after a hot cup of coffee and a light breakfast I got ready to leave. I made sure I saw how the pancakes came out. I visited a chapel at Sea Ranch before heading home. Salt Point is one of my favorite places, other two being Point Lobos and Soberanes Point in the southern CA coast.