The walk that wasn't and the one that was

After at least three days of cold and threatening rain today seemed to be both less cold and at least the air was free of excess moisture. I became determined to go for a walk but wanted to do so at a place that I hadn't been for a while, or ever, and wouldn't be excessively muddy.

My first choice was to walk on the paved path along Crystal Lake Reservoir. Since the total walk could be up to 14 miles down and back, literally down and back up, I loaded up my three liter camel back, grabbed my wind breaker, with the warmer skiing gloves, and proceeded to get a latte and read the paper. After the "coffee break," I drove to the closest path access and was amazed that it appeared that I would have the whole path to myself. Literally no other car was parked in the small parking area. When I got out of my car, it was obvious why this was so. (I had intended on inserting a picture here but for some reason it isn't uploading. There is a link to all the pictures I took at the end of this entry.)

Unfortunately, I didn't have a second choice. Since I had to proceed onto I-280, unless I wanted to violate the signs that said a U-turn was illegal, I decided to go to Princeton Harbor, just north of Half Moon Bay for a walk along the coast. Marilyn and I had been on portions of this particular walk more than once. One of our first anniversary dinners in the Bay Area was at a seafood restaurant just off of Highway 1 and even then we walk for a brief distance and time along the paved walkway on the beach side of the restaurant. I remember it particularly well because I had abalone for the second, and so far the last, time in my life. The restaurant building is still there but it is under a different name.

I actually parked in the boat launching parking lot where there were signs about paying but they seemed to only apply to overnight parking, at least that was my interpretation. It must have been the case because my car was still there and did not have a ticket and a "citation/towing" was the enforcement threat. (When I returned from my walk there was a mini-convention of UPS trucks. I'm sure they interpreted the parking the same way I did.)

I did walk further than I had ever walked with Marilyn or my children, although I didn't walk out on the jetty. There were a couple of fishermen out on it but the tide was in and the waves were splashing rather well. I wasn't concerned about getting knocked down so much as not wanting to get wet. The last time we walked there as a family, we talked with a sniggler. I think I've had eel before but don't think I would ever want to catch one. They don't look particularly appetizing.

There was one section of the walkway that ran right next to Highway 1. As I was going south, I was barked at, by some kid in a passing car. I don't really know what comment he was trying to make, perhaps that I was dog ugly(?) or he was species confused, but other than getting my attention like a horn would, it had no affect on me. Of course, it may not have been directed at me at all and It's just my egocentricity that makes me think so. On the way back to my car, I was barked at by a real dog, hopefully chained in some way to an RV it was near. Whether chained or not, it didn't attack.

Other than birds, I didn't see any wild animals. I did see a couple gulls going at it. I thought about taking their picture but by that time they were in the water and moving away from me. It would have been difficult to tell that there were two gulls. They looked very similar to each other but one appeared to be winning although, if that were the case, the other should have fled the confrontation. They were definitely not playing.

Then my pavement ran out. I decided to go on and hope that my shoes wouldn't get too muddy, which I guess they didn't. (I ended up taking my hiking boots off when I got home anyway because of some gum I picked up at Safeway, or Safeway's parking lot.) While I wasn't done walking, my path ran out. I even followed it a little bit away from the coast, hoping to be able to cross over to Miramar road but it stopped right at an incomplete bridge. I could have walked down a muddy embankment to get to some concrete steps and continue on but I didn't like the thought of having to scramble back up the embankment when I finally decided to come back. So I turned around.

It was warm at and walking away from the car, so I didn't wear my wind breaker. I was second guessing myself on the way back. I don't know whether it was because I was walking against the wind or it had picked up but my Ohio State sweatshirt and fleece vest just wasn't quite enough protection.

I noticed a couple of spots that looked like the next area destined to be swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. In and of themselves, they weren't that much area but it was obvious that erosion had been happening for some time and there didn't look to be any effort to slow it down, at least not there. It must have been public land, land that everybody owns and no one cares for.

See all of the pictures I took on this hike and attempted hike in my Kodak Gallery Album.