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We couldn’t be within twenty miles of the ocean and not go check it out. The coastline in northern California is unlike that of southern California. Gone are the long, hot, sunny, sandy beaches that stretch for miles in either direction. Up here there are high cliffs, cold winds, sea stacks, and small pocket beaches where birds, mammals, and humans flock.

Our first stop was Bodega Bay. In the town of the same name and along the bay is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds in 1961. We aren’t really movie buffs so instead of visiting the Potter School or the Tides Wharf, which were featured in the macabre film, we headed for the water. In a nod to Hitchcock’s movie we saw plenty of birds; thankfully, though, none of them attacked us.

A bit further around the bay we came to the end of the lower road near Bodega Head. It is a popular spot for fishing and kayaking. We walked along the shore and were rewarded with a close-up of a Pacific Loon. We also discovered a favorite bathing spot where Semipalmated Plovers and Western Sandpipers were quite busy. Across the parking lot is a man-made freshwater pond that locals call “Hole in the Head.” Oh, it wasn’t created for the wildlife, though they benefit from it now. It was excavated in the beginning stages of the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Strangely enough, sometime in the 1960s an electric company decided that this gorgeous coastal area would be a great place for a huge power generating station. The few residents in the area were vocally opposed to the plant but it wasn’t until a geologist’s report showed that the proposed plant was situated right smack dab on top of the San Andreas fault that the plan was scrapped. Can you imagine the potential for disaster? Oh, sure the fault hasn’t done much since it destroyed San Francisco in 1906. Unless you count the damage from the 1989 earthquake and the less deadly one in 2004. I rest my case.

Ever curious to see what’s behind the next bend, we drove up to the top of Bodega Head. Joining a small crowd, we were treated to a far off sighting of two Gray Whales. The whales were on their return trip to the coastal waters of Alaska from their breeding grounds in the Sea of Cortez: a 12,000 mile round-trip journey. Since it was towards the end of their migration season we felt lucky to see them at all. Following a small trail that clung to the top of the cliff we were treated to a bird’s eye view of the tiny beaches and coves far below. We actually had a soaring gull that was at eye level, a rather odd experience. Tucked in the nooks and crannies of the rock walls, Pelagic Cormorants shared nest duties. One sat on the eggs while the other hunted, returning every so often with small fish.

Leaving the area we drove past the farm where our friend Kelly has taken over management. He still oversees several small vineyards but the farm is now his main focus. The farm is situated on low, rolling hills not far from the coast. Since it is usually cool and damp, the location is best suited to the raising of livestock. Kelly already has a small flock of sheep out there, and will probably add cattle later. Currently his biggest challenge is protecting the sheep from predators, mainly coyotes, at night. Kelly and Elaine recently picked up two Maremma sheepdogs to guard them.

I had never heard of the breed before. They are similar to Great Pyrenees and are from the shepherding regions of northern Italy. They are large dogs, usually white in color. The puppies, Julian and Emma, were just a few months old and already massive. Their large paws belied their future growth. Though they are fiercely protective they are also renowned for their gentle behavior towards their charges. The breed is so good at what they do that they are even successfully protecting a colony of endangered penguins in Australia.

That the coastal area is well-suited for the raising of cattle was even more evident in the area near Point Reyes National Seashore. On both sides of the winding road were either black and white Holsteins, solid-colored Black Angus, or brown and white Herefords. All of them were incredibly well-fed as they had acres and acres of green grass to graze upon. We stopped in at the Marin French Cheese Company which, as their name says, specializes in French-style cheeses like Brie, Camembert, and Quark. I am not a huge fan of Brie but the mild Camembert and the fresh curd-like Quark were to my liking. Lance thought the Brie was excellent; considering that they won the 2005 World Champion Brie award, beating even the best of the French cheesemakers, I bet he’s right.

Leaving the cheese factory we were greeted by a cloud of dust. A herd of Holsteins was galloping through the field headed for the barn. I’ve never seen Holsteins move that fast in my life. It was milking time and they were obviously eager to empty their udders. Holsteins are the most productive milk cows in the world and can be milked three times a day instead of the usual two. Since these are not gargantuan feed lot dairies, the scenery is not degraded by the presence of the cows. In fact it is rendered more bucolic.

Cows have been raised in this area since the early 1800s, and the farmer’s existence was an important consideration when the Federal Government created the National Seashore in 1962. Within the Park’s boundaries there were once twenty-six ranches, each one named for a letter of the alphabet. Through the years many had fallen into ruin or been sold off. In a unique agreement the government purchased all the farms in the Park and leased them back to the remaining thirteen farm families. The narrow road through the park out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse is lined by fields of cows, and occasional stops are required as the cows cross from one field to another.

Of course our first stop in the Park was the Visitor Center, of the several options we chose the Bear Valley one. Located on the grounds of what was once “W Ranch” there is a small museum and several hiking trails. The ranch’s demise came in 1906 when a huge and destructive earthquake struck the region. One of the fences at the ranch was separated by 15 feet as the Pacific Plate continued its way northward. This plate has come a long way; the rock layers of Point Reyes line up with rocks in the Tehachapi Mountains some 310 miles to the south.

Also at the Visitor Center was a recreated Coast Miwok village called Kule Loklo, which translates as Bear Valley. The Miwoks were here in 1579 to greet the first European, Sir Francis Drake. Drake sailed into a protected waterway which is now called Drakes Estero. During his multi-week stay in which he made repairs to his ship the Miwoks supplied his crew with much needed food. For centuries the Miwoks lived in small villages harvesting seafood as well as acorns and other inland supplies. The Miwoks saw few other Europeans, other than occasional contact with the Russians, until the end of the 1700s. Change came quickly as their land was reappropriated for other uses. Miwoks were thought to have died out until a group won Federal recognition in late 2000.

Their homeland is beautiful but it is also a raw, natural place which can be quite deadly. Point Reyes is a peninsula that juts out almost ten miles into the Pacific Ocean. It is also extremely windy there. The two factors combined made it extremely dangerous for sailors, many of whom were in the area to pick up fresh butter and milk for merchants in San Francisco. In 1870 the Point Reyes Lighthouse was built to help guide ships past the treacherous rocks. It didn’t save all the ships and in 1889 the Point Reyes Life-Saving Station was created.

The motto at the Life-Saving Station was “Ye have to go out, ye don’t have to come back in.” And some didn’t. It was a dangerous job, as was being a keeper at the Lighthouse. Tormented by howling winds¹, closed in by fog that didn’t lift for the entire winter, and cut off from the outside world it should come as no surprise that the keepers were prone to depression, madness, and alcoholism. But, it was one of the best paying jobs in the country at the time.

We experienced some of the wind, but thankfully our day was sunny and clear. From the lighthouse we looked down on a Common Murre (Uria aalge) loomery (nesting site) that included thousands of the small black and white birds. In the water we discovered a lone Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba), two Harbor Seals, and a group of California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus). Grazing on the fresh Spring growth on the hillside were small Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) with their thick fur coats, still needed out there.

Probably the oddest thing we found that day were Manroots (Marah fabaceus var. agrestis). We spied them clinging to a hillside; they were visible since the soil around them had eroded away. The tuberous roots were at least two feet long and with their eyes and arm-like roots they did strangely look human. The first thing we both thought of were the Mandrakes from the world of Harry Potter. And with that movie reference, this story ends as it began.

Photos: View our photographs from California’s North Coast.

Notes: We visited California’s North Coast on 04/26/08 and 05/02/08. Erin visited the Maremmas on the Farm on 04/30/08.

¹ As I found out, the Point Reyes headland is the second foggiest and second windiest place in the United States. ↩