Revisiting the Past

 

Bluffs Along Tomales Point Trail

You can't go home again, as the saying goes, but you can go back to blog posts from the past, and a wild and wooly morning like today's seemed like a good time to do so. I enjoyed looking back and reading my posts from December 2019, several of which could have been descriptions of this year. All the photos in today's post are from Point Reyes in Decembers past. I've included two landscapes showing the range of drama to serenity to be found out there, and the rest of the shots are of our antlered friends, the elk and deer.

Hog Island

Top O' The World Elk

Three Amigos

King of the Road

Remembering Axis Deer

Elk at Sunrise Near Drake's Beach

Blacktail Bucks Near Chimney Rock

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Grandview Moonrise

 

Moonrise from Grandview Park

By the time I got back from my ride to Mt. Tam and had showered and downloaded pictures, it was about 3 o'clock, so I only had about an hour to relax before walking over to Grandview Park to catch the moonrise. I had an idea of where it would come up, but as the minutes passed beyond 4:28 p.m. I wondered if I would be able to see the moon through all the haze. Plus there was this one lone cloud over the distant horizon.

While I waited for the moon I snapped a couple of other shots, including the SkyStar Wheel in Golden Gate Park, and a panorama of Mt. Tam (click to view larger). People walked by and took phone snaps of the city skyline, but they were there for the sunset, which was happening on the other side of the hill. As it set, the sun reflected quite obnoxiously off the Salesforce Tower with a glare that would have dominated the scene, leaving the moon in second place. I was relieved when the reflection finally sank into the shadows.

The moon finally made its appearance--from behind the cloud, naturally--and I was excited by its beauty as the first contours of its shape became apparent. 

I had only brought a 300mm lens, so I made most of my shots by rotating the lens to vertical format and shooting a horizontal series to convert into a panorama. A single horizonal frame put the Transamerica Building and the Salesforce Tower very close to the left and right edges of the frame, leaving no room for the image to breathe. 

As I left the park I passed a small crowd of people on the other side of the hill who had been absorbed in watching the sunset. I don't think they even realized what was happening behind them.

SkyStar Wheel in Golden Gate Park

Panorama with Mount Tamalpais

Moon Above Salesforce Tower

Moon Rising Above Sutro Forest

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Racing the Tide

 

Resting Buck

A year ago this month I ran into a high tide that flooded the Mill Valley-Sausalito Pathway, cutting off my bike route to Mt. Tam. A large group of cyclists soon showed up and decided to take the freeway, so I joined them, figuring we had a reasonable amount of safety in numbers. It all worked out fine, and we had a nice little adventure.

Back then I had arrived at the flooded path about a half hour after a 6.74-foot high tide. I had planned to do the ride again yesterday and was concerned about the 6.3-foot high tide, but I had no idea if that would be high enough to close off the route. I decided it was worth a try, even if I ended up having to turn back. I'm glad to report that I did not have to turn back. I passed through before high tide, and the path was still dry when I returned afterward, so I know the flooding happens somewhere north of 6.3 feet. 

Later this month we'll have king tides (get your cameras), starting with a 6.4 high tide on the 20th, followed by 6.7, 7.0, and two 7.1 highs on subsequent days, dropping to a 6.9-footer on Christmas Day.

On the way up the mountain I saw that the crazy azaleas (crazaleas?) were still blooming along that little straightaway just before Bootjack. Right in among them were bundles of juicy red toyon berries which are more typical for this time of year. 

Up on the mountain I spotted a big buck deer relaxing in the warm sunshine well above the tule fog that rose almost all the way to the Mountain Home Inn. By and by he stood up and commenced to groom himself before ambling over to the edge of the woods where he began to thrash the tree branches with his antlers. It's long past velvet-shedding time, so I wondered if he was knocking acorns down. I didn't see him eat anything though, so maybe he was trying to shed his antlers or just make a game of sparring with branches.

Speaking of acorns, I'd been wondering why I hadn't seen or heard any wild turkeys in a long time since the ground is covered with ripe nuts, and I finally saw a gaggle of them on my ride down from Rock Spring to Pantoll. They were feeding together, but doing so very quietly, and with no tail-feather flourishing.

December crazaleas on Panoramic Highway

View of Mt. Diablo Over Tule Fog
(inland fog that doesn't come from the ocean)

The Buck Rises

Caught in the Act
(of sparring with branches)

Hiker on the Benstein Trail

Frost on Beetle-Grazed Bark

Shed Antler With A View

Wary Turkey

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