Trip Destination: Point Reyes National Seashore
Location: Northern California, about 40 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, CA
Location: Northern California, about 40 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, CA
Time of the year: Dec 2008
Season: Autumn
Duration of the trip: 1 day
Duration of the trip: 1 day
Weather of the day: Sunny, Windy
Point Reyes is a national seashore close to the SFO bay area. Its a small piece of land that juts out into the pacific. At the tip of this land is a magnificent lighthouse that was built sometime in the 1800s.
We reached the visitor center at about 1 PM. Were late because we stopped at the golden gate bridge view point. What a sight..!
You get there after a 30 min ride on CA 1 highway, once u take the exit off CA101. The road twists and turns beautifully through the hills, with the sea following you on the left.
After getting the maps and directions at the visitor center, we left for the Lighthouse, which is a 17 mile ride, and a 1/2 mile trek. This drive was beautiful, with rolling green hills on either side. The place feels so isolated, with no trees, no barns or anything. Just hills everywhere you see, and the calm pacific beyond them, put all of us to silence. The day was bright and sunny, added to the beauty of the place.
The lighthouse was a beauty. Can you believe that that the lighthouse's mechanical gear system had to be wound every 2 hrs for it to keep rotating?? That meant that there had to be a person at the light house 24/7. Loneliness, Silence, Fog all the time. Thats a perfect recipe for madness.!! Hats off to the people who sat there keeping the light burning.
The lighthouse was a beauty. Can you believe that that the lighthouse's mechanical gear system had to be wound every 2 hrs for it to keep rotating?? That meant that there had to be a person at the light house 24/7. Loneliness, Silence, Fog all the time. Thats a perfect recipe for madness.!! Hats off to the people who sat there keeping the light burning.
Here is another snippet: The speed of rotation of the light on the lighthouse is unique to every lighthouse. This one would complete 1 rotation in about 6 seconds. Sailors would note the interval between the flashes to determine which lighthouse it was...! Amazing isnt it?
From there, we went to Chimney rock, which is about 5 miles from the lighthouse, where you have a lookout to see some seals. Checkout this fat guy..!
There are also about 6-7 trails that we couldn't go to, because of lack of time. There is also another place called Tamales bay, where you can get to see some Elks, seals, and maybe some great white sharks.
A trip definitely worth it for the nature lover.
Rating: 5/5
2 comments:
Nice pics, Gee. Do you happen to have more? If so, please share. And I was intrigued by the bit about someone being there to wound the gear system for the lighthouse. Does it work that way even now?
Hey Sups!
I will add more...I have a few.
The lighthouse funda was pretty cool.
In the 1800s, they used this apparatus. There is a deadweight (abt 300 lbs) that is tied to a string and connect to the gear system that rotates the light. There is a crank that the operator would wind, and that would pull that weight up to a hieght of about 6 feet. Once he let goes, it would take abt 3 hrs for the weight to come down.
Its now not operational. Now they have a electrical circuit that blows a foghorn and a light that flashes.
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