Journeys›Photograph

A Clear August Weekend at Point Lobos

·Monterey County, California·#hiking#summer#wildlife#california-coast#carmel#point-lobos
A rugged coastline with dark blue ocean, rocky islets, a vegetated cliff, and a distant shore under a hazy sky.

Point Lobos for a clear August weekend, a long drive from home but the reserve sits just south of Carmel and the whole Monterey coast was out of its fog for once — you could see Carmel's white beach across the bay from almost every point on the trail.

Walked the shoreline loop most of the day. The kelp beds run right up against the rocks here, thick dark mats of it drifting in every cove. One offshore rock was so covered in cormorants it had gone completely white underneath them, dozens standing shoulder to shoulder up the slope with the cypress cliff behind. Further along, at a cove with green water and a wooded slope behind it, the trail dropped close enough to look straight down on a flat rock with five harbor seals hauled out on it — they haul out here year-round, apparently, and pup in the coves.

Across the highway a white church tower stuck up out of the trees on the hillside, couldn't tell what it belonged to. The seals never moved the whole time we watched.

A steep, tree-covered cliff descends to the ocean, with white rocks covered in many dark birds.Calm blue cove with rocky shores, green and reddish foliage, a dense forest, and distant mountains.Coastal landscape with a prominent evergreen tree, deep blue sea, white rock island covered in birds, and distant cliffs.Rocky cliffs with trees on top overlook an ocean bay featuring kelp and a distant shore under a light blue sky.A landscape view of green forested hills, a dry hillside, and a white chapel with a bell tower visible through trees.View of a blue bay with a distant beach and hills, framed by dark green evergreen trees on rocky cliffs.Green cypress trees on a rocky cliff overlook a blue ocean covered in seaweed under a bright sky.Five seals lounge on a light brown rocky outcrop surrounded by deep blue ocean water.

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