{"id":573,"date":"2006-07-30T20:58:04","date_gmt":"2006-07-31T01:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/?p=573"},"modified":"2008-04-19T11:15:57","modified_gmt":"2008-04-19T19:15:57","slug":"another-tomales-point-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/2006\/07\/30\/another-tomales-point-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Tomales Point  hike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the past two weeks I have discussed the following with Seagull, my hiking  visitor from China: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The fundamental contradictions of American culture (standing for freedom,  keeping slaves, for example).<\/li>\n<li>The Marketplace of Ideas theory (people will buy the good ones, discard  the bad ones).<\/li>\n<li>China&#8217;s Cultural Revolution (in which Chairman Mao, in the mid-1960s, apparently  realized he had gone far too long without unleashing a brutal wave of repression  on his population).<\/li>\n<li>The United States&#8217; oppression of the people who lived here before the white  folks showed up. (&quot;We destroyed their culture,&quot; I explained.)<\/li>\n<li>Whether science can prove the existence of God (It can&#8217;t, we agreed, but  religions serve useful purposes anyway.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Good thing we both went to college, eh? (Even better that he took instruction  in English, given that I took no instruction in Chinese).<\/p>\n<p>Last week we hiked in oppressive heat, shaded by the giant, ancient pines of  Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This week we headed north to someplace cool &#8212;  Point Reyes National Seashore &#8212; so that Seagull could be properly impressed  by the imposing cliffs of California&#8217;s shoreline. <\/p>\n<p>The seashore is spider-webbed with trails. The best ones offer spectacular  scenery and the sound of waves crashing against the rocks. Among the best of  the best is the Tomales Point Trail, which I&#8217;ve hiked twice in the past year  &#8212; once in pouring rain and another time under a perfect blue sky. It&#8217;s five  miles out to the point, where the Pacific Ocean enters the Tomales Bay, and  another five miles back on the same trail. It&#8217;s among the easiest 10-mile hikes  in the Bay Area, and can be one of the most beautiful, depending on the weather.  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3254.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"229\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>  This time the weather was perfect for hiking &#8212; cloudy and cool. After sweating for 12 miles last week we were grateful for the change.  <\/p>\n<p>  From a couple miles up the trail the Pacific Ocean is visible on the left,  and Tomales Bay on the right. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3255.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"312\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>The local elk populations always manage to entertain visitors. Funny how watching  large, wandering beasts graze is entertaining. Soon large male elks will begin  battling each other for domination over these sexy females; the toughest of  the tough bull elks get to lord it over a whole harem of females while the losers  have to wait till next year. Another good reason to be glad you&#8217;re not an elk.  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3257.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"306\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>After about 4.5 miles the trail comes right up next to the cliff&#8217;s edge. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3259.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a <i>long<\/i> way down there. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3260.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"291\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>&quot;China&#8217;s over <i>that<\/i> way,&quot; Seagull says. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3261.jpg\" width=\"323\" height=\"420\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>A rock wall rises on two sides. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3262.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>Tomales Point juts out into the ocean. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3266.jpg\" width=\"272\" height=\"640\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>Large birds mock land-bound travelers. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3269.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"419\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>Poppies are always pleasing to the eye. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3271.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"278\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>A few dashes of yellow decorate the hills along the trail. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3273.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"396\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>We got a bit closer to this giant bee than we should have. Must not be one  of those Africanized Killer Bees. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3275.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"357\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>Seagull and I agree these trees are most interesting. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3279.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>Hikers pass an elk-viewing area. The elk are way, way down in a valley nearby.  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tommangan.net\/2006images\/07-29-06-ptreyes\/IMG_3284.jpg\" width=\"420\" height=\"286\" border=\"1\">  <\/p>\n<p>A few more of those cool trees near the trailhead, which means our hike is  about done. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the past two weeks I have discussed the following with Seagull, my hiking visitor from China: The fundamental contradictions of American culture (standing for freedom, keeping slaves, for example). The Marketplace of Ideas theory (people will buy the good&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/2006\/07\/30\/another-tomales-point-hike\/\">Read the whole thing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}