Clear above 300 feet.
| Pt. Reyes Lighthouse and Chimney Rock |
Jutting out into the Pacific ocean, the western end of the peninsula is a panorama of Pacific Ocean and rugged California coast. The Pt. Reyes Lighthouse is found at the western-most tip, and Chimney Rock overlook is a few miles south-east where Drake's Bay meets the open Pacific.
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Clear above 300 feet. |
The morning weather report for the lighthouse was "fog below 300 feet, clear above." Here, in the early morning at the trailhead to the lighthouse we look northward to fog-enshrouded Pacific, clearly above 300 feet elevation. An hour later, and the fog would all be gone. |
| This fellow has a great home, a mere dozen or so feet from cliffs overlooking the Pacific. But it's not all sun and beaches; the harriers and other raptors that fly overhead make long excursions in the open unhealthy. |
 Pt. Reyes Resident |
 Gopher's Eye View |
Still, wouldn't you just love to have this view from your front... burrow? |
This sequence is destined for an upcoming article on digital cameras and zooming...
| Here's a wide-angle shot (1x) looking down the coastal cliff. Sun, surf, and Elephant seals. Can you see the seals? There are two of them, sunning themselves on the rocks. |
.JPG "See the Elephant Seals?") See the Elephant Seals? |
.JPG "Zooming in at 3x") Zooming in at 3x |
This is what a digital camera would capture if it were capable of 3x optical magnification. Can you see the Elephant seals yet? |
| At 6x optical zoom, you might just be able to make out the seals. See them there on the rocks? |
.JPG "Zooming in at 6x") Zooming in at 6x |
.JPG "And at 10x") And at 10x |
Compare this 10x zoom with the 1x and 3x images above. Here the seals are clearly visible, resting on the rocks. |
| Whereas optical zoom is great, digital zoom is next to worthless. Notice how blurry the image is; there's very little fixup you can do to clean up the picture. In short: don't buy a camera if it doesn't have optical zoom. |
.JPG "Digital Zoom at 33x") Digital Zoom at 33x |
 Fog is Burning Back |
Looking north-west over South- and North beaches, you see the fog is burning off. The northern edge of the Pt. Reyes peninsula is remarkably—almost unnaturally—straight, in contrast to the smooth arc of the southern part. |
| For such a little chunk of rock, Pt. Reyes has remarkable geological diversity. The sandstone veiled in morning fog is only a few hundred yards from the granite we saw above, and ... |
 Fog and Sandstone |
 The Western Tip |
...the Western tip of Pt. Reyes, where the Lighthouse is found. This shot is from right around the corner from the lighthouse visitor center. |
| Down a long, narrow flight of stairs (over 300, in fact) you come to the lighthouse itself. It's still a working lighthouse, but during the winter and early spring months, it's popular for an entirely different reason: whale watching. Since Pt. Reyes juts so far off the coast, the migrating whales are easily visible from shore. |
.JPG "The Lighthouse") The Lighthouse |
.JPG "Whale ho!") Whale ho! |
It takes a bit of patience, but under normal circumstances, you can spot them as they come up to breathe. This is what you'd see through a typical pair of binoculars. |
| Same picture, just enlarged slightly.... |
.JPG "A tad bit closer") A tad bit closer |
Since whale watching is so popular at Pt. Reyes Lighthouse, you should be aware that vehicular access to the lighthouse is restricted on weekends during the winter months. Instead, regular shuttle busses take you from Kenneth C. Patrick visitor's center on Drake's Beach to the lighthouse. Details may be gotten from the National Park Service
site.
 Three Hundred steps |
Above, we see a panorama image of the stairs down to the lighthouse. Three hundred steps down a narrow spine of rock, with sheer cliffs to either side. The view is spectacular, but needless to say, they close the lighthouse if the wind is too fierce—as is sometimes the case along the coast.
 Trail among wildflowers |
Similarly, at Chimney Rock, a trail leads you south-east to the very tip of the peninsula overlooking the namesake rock. This place is popular in early spring for the wild flowers as well as a colony of elephant seals that call this home (at least seasonally.) The Pacific ocean (left) and calmer Drakes Bay (right) are beautiful year round.