Saturday September 15, 2007

I'm in California for two weeks, including this weekend due to a string of meetings in Menlo Park. I brought my camera gear and took some shots on Highway 1 south of Half Moon Bay. The above was the first place I stopped. After lowering myself to the beach using a series of ropes to stop from sliding down the very steep pathway, I reached the bottom to find a very well-organized beach cleanup operation underway. I grabbed a trash bag and a latex glove and spent a few hours picking up trash, taking an occasional shot, and enjoying the weather, the scenery, and the wildlife. I saw pelicans in abundance and several dolphins riding the waves pretty close to the beach. And for some reason I saw many bird carcasses in various states of decay all over this beach. I asked a local about it and she said it was common at this location, but she didn't know why. I also found a dead seal. :-(

Getting back up to the roadway was more challenging than getting down. I was feeling reasonably virtuous lugging my bag of collected trash, along with my camera bag and tripod, up to the highway, but anything I did paled in comparison to the guy who somehow...and I do not know how he did this...brought not one, but two, automobile wheels (tires AND rims) back up that very steep slope.