Back to the Beautiful Pacific and Up Highway One

May 17 and 18, 2014

We bid a fond farewell to the nice showers at the Marin RV Park, (amazing the small things you appreciate when you live a simple life!). After a stop at the Trader Joe's down the street, we drove our way out of the suburban sprawl of Marin County, and into the countryside. A late start, we both had trouble falling asleep after our stimulating day in San Francisco, and the grocery stop, put us way behind. Arriving at Point Reyes National Seashore we found a full parking lot, and not enough time to explore the large (100-square mile) park. We hiked the Earthquake Trail and Greg stood on the San Andreas Fault. The main exhibit for the trail was a recreation of the fence that was left in two sections 16' apart, with a fissure in between, after the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco. Since there is no campground at the park we drove on up the road until we came to Collin's Beach. The volunteer at Point Reyes had suggested that we try the Lawson's Landing Campground.

California Poppies along the Earthquake Trail

Greg standing on the San Andreas Fault!

This is the fence that was offset 16 feet in 1906

Large and noisy woodpecker along the San Andreas

Driving up to the office, we looked beyond and saw a mass of RV's in a field behind the dunes. The host assigned us to an area a mile and a half from the entrance that she said would be quieter, but warned us that the clammers would be showing up at 8 am and making noise. We drove through the field with dozens of RV's and tents, and cows open ranging behind them. Then on through an area of permanent small trailer compounds. The trailers were mostly classics from the 50's and 60's and had fences and decks and decorations. They looked to have been used as vacation homes for generations. Arriving at a flat open area near the beach on Tomales Bay, with Tomales Point across the water, we found our site. Across from us camped along the water, were family groups camping with RV's and tents and boats. We realized that almost everyone there was Asian-American and found out later that they were of Chinese and Vietnamese descent. Many people were fishing and crabbing and then cooking their catches at their campsites.

Mid-Century beach house at Dillon's Beach

Trendy Marin County cows only wear black and white

Lawson's Landing is either an unspoiled vacation tradition or a refugee camp. It is hard to tell by looking.

The trailer may be old and weathered but the deck is comfortable and nicely decorated.

Wildflowers everywhere

The public beach at Dillon's

We camped in a tsunami zone on top of the San Andreas Fault

Monument to Sir Frances Drake who discovered the area

View across Tomales Bay with trailers at Lawson's Landing far below

Cows behind our campsite

Our crowded campsite

The permanent vacation homes have been in place for decades

Gourmet Salame from the Ferry Building in San Francisco

King's Trumpets

Ready to grill

Ready to eat!

Lunch of Salame, Brie, and fresh baguette

The next morning the clammers arrived, hundreds of them and walked out on the low tide sandbars into the bay. Some went out on boats, since the larger clams were on the now exposed sand island. We talked to a few young Chinese-American men who lived in San Francisco and told us it was a family tradition to come here for the low tides. They showed us their huge horse clams, and their specialized tubes that they shoved several feet into the sand to find the bigger clams. We asked about the sustainability of the harvest, given the huge number of people clamming. Apparently they are allowed to take ten of the huge clams, but he thought it would be good to limit it to five, since he has noticed there are fewer of them than there used to be.

The moon was full so the tide was extra low

The War against the Giant Clams!

It takes serious equipment to dig Horse Clams

The Willets were digging for smaller game

One of our neighbors had a good catch of Horse Clams. That is Greg's hand, not a childs

We left that morning and drove north again along Highway 1. It was a beautiful sunny breezy, cool day, with wisps of fog occasionally forming offshore and moving inland. Stopping at a few overlooks we took in the views of the Pacific Ocean. I am definitely a rugged coastal person. It was great to just soak it all in! Driving north through Marin County and into Sonoma County, we enjoyed the ocean views and cliffs on one side of the road, and rolling hills pasturing dairy cows and sheep on the other. Greg and I commented that they had it so much better than the cattle we left behind in the arid desert regions to the east, especially in Nevada, where the stock looks skinny and has trouble foraging enough food on the huge open ranges. These cows have lush grass, plenty of water and ocean views!

Scenes along California Highway 1. Cool spikey flowers!

Lots of bikers to share the narrow roads with us

Typical beach homes along the coast and lots of flowers

Sea Stacks and Wildflowers

Wild flowers on the cliffs

Lots of fragrant eucalyptus trees on the road

At Point Arena we drove out to the 10 story Point Arenas lighthouse, they only one on the California coast that can still be ascended. The admission price was too steep, typical of California, so we enjoyed the scenery and drove on. By the time we slowly drove the coast and arrived near Mendocino, we were looking for a spot for the night. Van Damme State Park to the south looked interesting so we drove around it looking for a site. The sites were small and very slanted, typical of parks designed before the advent of RV's. Plus, all the California parks due to the recent year's budget crunches are $35 a night for no hookups. The host told us for that price we could also choose to stay in the beach parking lot. He said there were usually bonfires at night and we could be expected to share a bottle of wine. We drove back to the crowded parking lot on the water, but thought it would clear out after dark and it would be nice to stay right on the ocean. Greg parked and we started to get situated when a huge old school bus drove in. The roof and the interior seemed to be crammed to the gills with sleeping bags and stuff. Over the door was written “Don't Panic!”. It stopped and immediately a half dozen large dogs made a beeline for the beach and relieved themselves. (This was not an off-leash beach!). Then at least a dozen 20 and 30- somethings rolled out of the bus. Two young women were carrying puppies. Okay, I worked for four years with hippie kids at The Common Market and love and understand their tattooed, and pierced selves, but when we heard one of them say, “Hey, the others won't have any trouble finding us here!”, Greg and I decided we would not have a quiet, oceanside campground here, we moved on to the next state park, north of Mendocino.

Steeply dipping, thin-bedded sandstone at Point Arena

Seaweed bounced back into place after every wave

Poppies along Highway 1 near Mendocino

Sea Stack being lifted out of the ocean by the rising coastline

Russian Gulch State Park was small, quiet, and not very full, so we picked out a nice secluded site along a stream, in the redwoods and ferns, and walked to the small cove nearby. We enjoyed the last of the day on the beach and walked back to our campsite for a nice dinner and sleep.

On the beach at Russian Gulch