Month: July 2018

Wednesday morning I drove back down to Trinidad, about an hour south of where I am now staying in Crescent City, California.  When reviewing the photos I took down there on Tuesday I realized I missed something important.

This is a replica of the old lighthouse which used to sit out at the end of Trinidad Head.

I had seen this when I was here on Tuesday (sitting down near the beach – between the photo I took looking right towards the beach and left towards the dock and Bay).  The building is a replica but the bell sitting in front of it is the real deal – a 4,000 pound bell which was kind of like a foghorn, warning ships at sea.  By the way, when I stood on the wooden planks under the bell the top of it (under the white concrete support) was right at my beltline.

We’ll get back to the lighthouse in a minute, but while I’m down by the water let me show you some other things.

This was a large group of kayakers returning to land:

As you can see, conditions by the water were foggy – as they were when I was here Tuesday.

Next – more boats being raised from and lowered to the ocean via a pulley system:

This one was on it’s way down:

This one was getting ready to be brought up about 5 minutes later:

And this one had come up a few minutes earlier but was being pressure washed to get potential aquatic “hitchhikers” off the hull.

As I learned last year, most states out West have an extensive network of boat inspection stations along highways coming in to their state and near rivers and lakes where boating occurs in an attempt to control and eliminate invasive species of plants and animals (mussels seems to be a particular concern this year) from being transported into a water source and contaminating it.

I thought I had more pictures of this pulley system but must confess I had gotten into a lengthy and enjoyable conversation with a fellow traveler while his wife was off entertaining their two young children (who had started making seagull noises non-stop) and was temporarily distracted from my picture-taking responsibilities.

After we went our separate ways I went back up to where the lighthouse replica used to be.  This was taken looking away from the water:

And by turning just a few degrees right (and keeping the metal staircase railing in view) this was the view:

Another example of the marine layer just sitting off the coast but inland being sunny and clear.

Here is the view looking down those stairs to the right, towards the Bay:

That white square is where the replica of the lighthouse used to be.  Just to the left of it is where the bell used to be:

And on the wall left of that concrete slab is a memorial to people lost at sea.

The replica and bell was at this location for many years and apparently have been moved to reinforce the supporting platforms.

Here is a photo taken from the center of the platform where the lighthouse replica once stood:

It is virtually identical to a shot I posted from Tuesday, though I had taken a few steps forward to eliminate the two wooden posts.

Wednesday I learned that the old lighthouse has been replaced by a new, automated light source which is on the other side of Trinidad Head, a huge rock which juts out into the ocean between the dock and Bay to the left and the beach which was further to the right (north).  That was the location of the original lighthouse but it was damaged by the highest recorded wave to ever hit the California coast back in 1914.  The lighthouse was later automated and a more powerful light source was constructed.

 

 

As I’ve been traveling around extreme northern California I have seen many businesses with “Bigfoot” included in their name, as well as gift shops and tourist traps selling trinkets and souvenirs.

Evidently this part of the world is known for “Bigfoot” sightings.

I used to have a cat named Bigfoot, which is the only one I’ve ever seen.  Personally, given what I’ve learned about this area – I think it’s the marijuana talking….

No photo.

Anyone who has played golf is probably aware of that term – something you want to avoid when you are enjoying a round of golf.  Well, near the ocean there are water hazards which can do much more than add strokes to your score…. they can take years off your life.

The most innocent is High Tide.  There are signs many places warning visitors who may not be familiar with the rhythms of the ocean to be mindful of incoming tides which can leave them trapped against a cliff with no possibility of escape.

Next on the list – “sneaker waves”.  I had never heard this term before but these are random waves much larger and more powerful than ones preceding them.  A cute term, perhaps, but this is the warning written on the official Redwood National Park map:

“Very large, powerful “sneaker” waves can occur at any time.  They will probably pull you into the water and survival is unlikely.  Never turn your back on the ocean.”

Ok, now you have my attention….

I have not seen surfers since I was in southern California, largely because much the coastline is extremely rocky.  If you get sucked out into the water you will likely be battered about the rocks, both above and below the surface.  There are even warning signs advising people who aren’t trained lifeguards to resist the temptation to try and rescue a stranded swimmer because they may not survive the attempt.

Last on the list – tsunami’s.  I stopped at the Visitor Center in downtown Crescent City Wednesday morning and saw a sign with a summary of the March 28, 1964 tsunami which struck the city.  That tsunami, triggered by a series of powerful earthquakes up near Alaska, sent waves racing towards the coast of California at 500 miles per hour.  Those waves (several waves of waves, actually) struck the unsuspecting community a little before midnight and destroyed 29 city blocks.  11 people lost their lives.  Crescent City also experienced a much milder tsunami a few years ago after the earthquakes which triggered the major tsunami’s in Japan.

I’ve seen tsunami signs all up and down the coast while I’ve been in California and they tell you when you are going into a tsunami zone (low elevation, close to the water) and when you are leaving it (getting back to higher ground).  The rule of thumb is – be mindful of where you are and what your options are, especially if you feel what might have been an earthquake.  The potential of deadly tsunami waves could follow soon thereafter.

Wednesday I spent the day driving south, then north in and around Redwood National Park in extreme northwestern California.  As I was driving north around 4 o’clock local time I took a scenic road out towards the ocean and stopped at an overlook called Flint Ridge.  Napping down by the water was another large group of seals.  I was closer to them than the ones I posted photos of yesterday, and I also wasn’t as high off the ground, so these pictures turned out a little better:

Every now and then this one would raise his head and look at me like “What are you lookin’ at, pal??”

And in this group there was a very noticeable brown one, unlike any I had seen at previous seal sightings.

Quite the life of leisure….

Wednesday evening I went back to this historic lighthouse in Crescent City, CA.  I had driven back here in the morning but still couldn’t walk out to it but in the early evening the isthmus was dry enough that I was comfortable I wouldn’t get my feet wet.

And here is the view looking back towards the mainland from the little islet the lighthouse sits atop:

As I was walking back to my car I overheard a woman pointing something out to her young child.  These were in little pools of water left behind by the retreating tide:

When I got home and was telling my Airbnb host about my big day he told me that this lighthouse is now more of a museum than an active lighthouse.  A more modern, automated lightsource has been constructed further out to sea, visible on a clear day but there was still coastal fog so I couldn’t see very far out towards the ocean.

 

Unless they are…

No photo (unfortunately).

I just learned that the winning MegaMillions lottery ticket which matched the numbers drawn last night was sold in California.  I bought a ticket a few days ago but it was for the previous drawing and I didn’t have a ticket for this drawing.

It took a while, because of the detour I had to take around the Carr Fire, but I finally made it back to the coast around noon Monday.  The first place I stopped was at a Vista Point (scenic overlook) near the Arcata airport, north of the town of Arcata.

I stayed at the Vista Point for about an hour – watching and listening to the ocean, enjoying the pleasant 57 degree temperature (which was welcome relief after having spent 3 of the last 8 days in Redding, CA with temps over 100), and watching the seals.  If you look closely at the first photo in this post you’ll see the seals down near the water.

They were mostly just napping, but every now and then one would shuffle in to the water and splash around a bit:

Monday after I drove back to the coast I stopped in the little town of Trinidad, which is just north of Arcata where I stayed the previous weekend before heading inland.  I was pretty sure the visibility wouldn’t be very good because of the persistent marine layer which was hugging the coast but I at least wanted to get the lay of the land (or in this case the “lay of the bay”).

This was my first look at Trinidad Bay, looking down from near where I had parked my car:

This is from a vantage point slightly left of there.  I didn’t realize it at the time but I was now standing where the Trinidad Lighthouse used to be.  You’ll learn more about that in a future post as I plan to return to Trinidad in the next day or two in, hopefully, clearer weather.  In this photo you can barely see a dock in the distance which you’ll see more of shortly.

I then walked down to where the water is, not directly but by going a few blocks north (right) and descending down to the beach and dock areas.  This was looking right, towards the beach.  The rock formation you see of the left is “Trinidad Head”, a large peninsula which sticks out into the bay:

And this was looking left, towards the harbor:

A closer look from beach level of the beach itself:

And a little to the right of that a group of lifeguards was giving a safety training class to interested citizens:

I then walked over towards the harbor and dock, and to a long metal fishing pier which lead out to the wooden dock at water level you could (barely) see in the second photo of this post:

And while at the boat launch area I learned that they have a rather interesting boat lift which uses a pulley to bring the boat up away from the water to load onto the trailer.  You can see the lift being returned to water level via the pulley on the right side of the photo:

I’ll document that process more thoroughly in a future post.

Not Lighthouse, just Light.  This is located in Crescent City, California which is only a few miles from the Oregon state line.  I arrived in town Monday afternoon and will be staying here for three nights before proceeding further north.

Battery Point Light was built in 1856 and was one of the first lighthouses on the west coast.  This is a photo I took from near the Coast Guard Station which is on a peninsula some distance away:

That photo was taken late-afternoon when I was arriving in the area.  As you can probably tell, the persistent marine layer was still present right at the coast whereas just a mile or so inland it was sunny and clear.

Around 6 pm I drove out to where the lighthouse itself is, just south of downtown Crescent City.  The lighthouse sits on an islet, basically a tiny island just offshore but close enough so that at low tide one may walk out to it via a connecting isthmus.

This is from “high ground” where I parked the car.

This was after walking down the ramp to get to beach level, then walking progressively closer to the islet.

You may be able to tell that the tide was coming in and there was just enough water that Mr. Smiley-pants “It’s too cold to get my feet wet” JohnBoy didn’t venture out on to the islet to see the lighthouse up close.  I will be in the area a few days and will have other photos in a future post.