It is not stretching it to include this hike as a Friday Feature. I might just add to the working definition though. In addition to “highlighting a special and remarkable artist and creator and/or work of art”, I want to also honor that which instills wonder .

This ten mile out-and-back hike whose trailhead is about a 55-minute drive northwest of my home, is located in the Point Reyes National Seashore, managed by the U.S. National Park Service, in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

On the map above, you can see a geological phenomenon that endlessly fascinates me, especially on this hike. See Tomales Bay? It lies directly atop the San Andreas Fault. At 800 miles, the San Andreas Fault is large enough and long enough to be visible from space. It divides the Pacific and the North American Tectonic Plates and extends beneath the earth at least ten miles. Historically, as the plates have shifted, the fault has caused numerous earthquakes including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which caused the collapse of the Bay Bridge, and the Southern California Northridge earthquake in 1994.

It’s also caused this rift called Tomales Bay.

Hiking to Tomales Point, you’re walking upon the Pacific Tectonic plate with continual views of the North American Plate just across Tomales Bay to your right. And, to your left is the Pacific Ocean. For the entirety of the hike, you’re at the edge of the world. It is dramatically, fearfully beautiful. It must be one of the loveliest hikes anywhere.

I stopped at the Bear Valley Visitor Center run by the National Park System before I continued to the trailhead and was reminded of the immensity of natural riches we have right here in West Marin. There are elephant seals and sea lions and harbor seals and dolphins and porpoises and whales when the season’s right. (I came out just between the humpback and blue whale migrations and knew spotting one would be unlikely.) Sea birds and marsh birds multitudinously. (Is that a word, multitudinously? I hope so.) While at the Visitor Center, I watched a 16-minute video on the natural and human history of the area. Why am I not out here more often?

When I first moved to the area about 23 years ago, I undertook a frenzied exploration of Sir Francis Drake when I learned he had sailed these very waters when circumnavigating the earth. There are theories and arguments and opinions on where he actually careened and beached his ship, the Golden Hynde, in the 16th century, in order to make repairs here. We know that he interacted with the local Miwok peoples who lived in this region. And we have a bay and the beach where he most likely made his landing (and a major thoroughfare in Marin County) named after him. What if he walked the same bit of the Pacific Plate I was readying to walk?

I drove for another half an hour or so to the Tomales Point Trailhead and headed out. There were few people on the trail but an absolute profusion of yellow lupine and other wildflowers. The lupine were the stars of the show. Although Marin County reportedly did not have a wildflower super-bloom this year in spite of all the rains, you could’ve fooled me judging by these and the other blossoms adorning the path.

Under overcast skies, I walked for about two miles, relishing the edge-of-the-world sensation and the rugged scenery.

And then, the Tule elk emerged. With babies!

Tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodesare) are “the dominant native herbivore to the California coastal ecosystem.” (NPS) By the late 1870’s, they were thought extinct due to hunting and displacement by cattle. However, a cattle rancher named Henry Miller near Bakersfield discovered a herd of less than 30 Tule elk on his property and worked to preserve them. Today, there are almost 6000 Tule elk in California and about 300 of them live on Tomales Point.

The hike remained spectacular all the way to the Point and back.

Although too far to catch with the camera lenses I had, when I reached the tip of the Point, I watched a massive California sea lion playing in the waters at the entrance to Tomales Bay. It’s hard for me even now to imagine such a galumping sort of animal frolicking like that in the sea, but frolic he did.

Heading back from the point, I realized I hadn’t seen anyone on the trail for a couple of hours. I was out there alone. The sun was making its way toward the horizon and I still had five miles to go. Keeping my wits about me, I confidently headed back and…immediately got lost amongst the large lupine bushes.

I tried to wend my way through, stepping over lupine bushes as I sought the path, and got even more lost with absolutely no idea where the trail was. Finally, after about 30 minutes, I swallowed my ego and backtracked and found my way.

By mile 7, my feet were screaming, day had turned to gloaming, I had drunk all my water, and I still had three miles to go!

But, finally arriving to my car about an hour later, my chief thought was, “More, please. I want to come out here regularly in every season. I want to know the names of all the flowers. I want to walk on the edge of a tectonic plate again, I want to have a picnic amongst the elk. I want to find more sea lions and maybe even whales! And, I’d like to get lost amongst the lupine at every opportunity.”

Lost in a sea of flowers.

At the edge of the world.

The Friday Feature is a weekly or biweekly post highlighting an artist and creator or a special work of art or, as in this week’s case, a particularly wondrous work of Creation.

Leave a comment

Share