Kevin and I avoided the weekend crowds (and managed to get some unseasonably clear weather) by heading to Point Reyes National Seashore Thursday and Friday nights.
Perhaps most interesting about this trip was how delightful our weather was - for the "foggiest and windiest place on the Pacific Ocean," Point Reyes was clear and sunny all day Thursday and Friday. Only Saturday did we get a taste of the fog and wind, which promptly sent us running home.
We'd ostensibly gone to the park to do some whale watching, but it turns out that neither of us have the attention span required to spot a whale in the vast ocean. Whales were there, to be sure - before we'd arrived at the spotting station, they'd seen several dozen - but our capacity to stare at the vast blue expanse was not.
Kevin attempts to spot a gray whale(This sets me straight on something I'd been wondering, which is whether I'd dig bird watching. As I suspected, I don't have the patience. I like looking at birds, but only when they're right in front of me.)
We did see a ton of wildlife, including:
White deer. Are these just albino deer? It's not clear, but it seems obvious why they would need protection.
Elk. There was an elk ahead of us on our trail Friday morning, which was pretty cool. Saturday morning, we were awoken by several elk making a noise that sounded a lot like some punk teenagers making "spooky ghost noises."
Seals. I'm pretty sure they're harbor seals, all hauled out in this cove.
Elephant seals. (Kevin: After Ano Nuevo, I don't need to go take a look.) We saw them from a few hundred feet away, which was good enough for us.
Jellyfish, starfish, and sea anemones. We hit a tidepool, about an hour too late.
Sea lions. Again, they were all hauled out.
Quail. Did you know that quail sound like they're laughing at you?
Brownish banana slugs. I couldn't resist poking them.
Also: Tons of water fowl, tons of birds of prey, some jack rabbits, and some horses.
Friday night at the campsite, we heard what later were identified as raccoons. Apparently there's a massive problem with aggressive raccoons at our camp, and we were given permission to throw pebbles at them, should they appear. Alas, we didn't see any.
I also should add that our tent is broken. Someone had a problem with his zipper at Crater Lake, and it was only exacerbated by this trip, to the extent that his door could not close. I was convinced that one of these aggressive raccoons would enter the tent in the middle of the night. Could you imagine anything more horrific? I could seriously handle many other creatures - spiders, insects, even birds or field mice. But a raccoon? Yikes!
Technically, this was a backpacking trip, but really we just had a 3-mile hike-in to our campsite. BDR and I were fine on the backpacking portion of the hikes, and during the other 10 miles we logged, but the same could not be said for our sleeping experience. Next weekend's trip to the Redwoods will come with many, many more pillows.
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