A Bit by the Coast
Buzzed down from Redding to Monterey... This is not the train I rode in on, but you can find it parked along highway 273 in Redding.
Didn't really feel like sleeping that night. So I grabbed the camera & tripod I took a few shots of the rocks by Carmel.
Most of these are 30-second exposures The full moon was 4 nighs after I shot these.
,;
Daylight again Big chunks of veined & weathered granite about a mile south of the night pictures.
Split & weathered
Farther down the coast, the fog bank hovers, contemplating it's next move.
It seems so much smaller in the picture...The lower 15 feet is a mass of strata that is bent & tilted upon its side. Then it was all eroded flat & level. Right above that there is a layer of boulders... big, round boulders. the largest in this picture is perhaps 30 inches across. then you have a couple of feet of silty-stuff & then a layer of much smaller stones... I believe the size is classified as "cobbles".
The fun thing about this beach is that, as you walk along to the north the layers of strata are replaced by a mass of granite and the granite, too, is eroded to the same level as the strata & it topped with the layer of boulders. Fun, huh? Imagine all of the things that could cause this and how long that might take.
As you continue your walk the cliff face becomes taller as you move deeter into the extent of the granite plug...
...And you come across this lovely event The wall here is, perhaps 25 - 30 feet tall. The pinkish vein is perhaps 14 inches wide at the base. You can see that the top two-thirds shifted to the left about a foot & a halt. Then the top third decided it wanted to go back to the right about 5 inches.
So is this just the current state of something that has been jarring along for a few million years or was there some amazingly tooth-rattling day a while back?
Ah yes, the Bixby Bridge... Everyone who passes is required to take at least one picture. This is mine. There is a place just to the north of it where a half-dozen cars can park. People pile out of their cars and perch on the precipice that allows them to capture the perfect selfie with the bridge in the background while cars whiz past just feet away.
Fog seems to love to cling to the coastline this time of year. You can never be quite sure whether it is going to move that extra 400 feet east at your beach of choice making the difference between a sunburn & a sweater.
High on a ridge you have the golden expanse of a valley.
Golden Fields If you peer closely just about in the middle you can see Molera Point jutting out into the ocean sheltering a cozy little cove. I made a recording of the ocean waves there a few months back.
It was high tide and a long beach. but if you turn the volume down' it's not too bad.
Some of the access paths to the ocean are long, narrow and winding. And if you come at the right time of year, you get to traverse these lovely stairs when they are crowded with wildflowers. But keep aware, some of these narrow & winding paths are also crowded with poison oak, so mind your steps
Soberenes Point where I made another recording of the ocean waves. This time it was low tide. the tide was perhaps a foot lower than what this pictures shows. The mics were placed by the water at the end of the point that is in the lower right third of the image. There was a shlushing channel to the right and a gurgling hollow to the left... arather interesting wat to spend a sunrise.
A Bit by the Coast