Sporadic dispatches from the hinterlands.
We just got a new 20-70 f/4 lens for the Sony, and went up to the arboretum to try it out.
So far, so good: the lens is small, light, and versatile. It focuses very close for near-macro images, especially at 70mm. We’re excited to put it to use on our next trip!
I recently paddled a new point-to-point downwind route just up the coast: Pigeon Point to Davenport Landing. On this stretch of coast, there aren’t many good access points for a long boat like my OC1, but this route has an easy start and finish. Conditions ranged from breezy downwinding, to smooth water, to chaotic chop.
Joy dropped me off just below the lighthouse at Pigeon Point, then enjoyed a day on the coast before meeting me at the takeout. With her help, I’ve been able to paddle much of the coastline near Santa Cruz.
It’s late June, but the coastal wildflowers are still out. We went up to Gazos Beach to look at the dunes.
Useful link:
Plants of Ano Nuevo State Park from iNaturalist
It’s been a cool and moist spring after a winter of heavy rains, and the local landscapes still haven’t completely turned from green to gold. I made a day trip down to Garrapata State Park to see if there were any flowers left, and I wasn’t disappointed.
I hiked the Soberanes Canyon trail and then completed the loop up the Rocky Ridge trail and then a coastal loop, five or six miles and 1800 feet total (depending on which GPS unit I believe). The Rocky Ridge trail has been officially closed since 2016. I usually try to respect official closures, but this one might not re-open within my hiking lifetime, and, closed or not, is one of the most popular inland hikes in the Big Sur area. It’s very steep, and was never truly a constructed trail, but it’s well worth the struggle.
The higher elevation grassland in particular was covered in wildflowers, still going strong as the grasses started to dry up. Lazuli Buntings were singing all over, providing the background music as I took pictures of the flowers.
As I’ve been doing lately, I took a lot of ID shots of flowers (and some bugs):
We last visited Garrapata in 2021.
I used this helpful site for some of the plant identification:
https://montereywildflowers.com
The Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council has a Plant of the Month page with some of the same plants found in Big Sur.
