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Bay Area Trip: Part III

I went to California for a conference from May 15-23, 2009. Locations include San Francisco, Marin County, Sonoma County, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Berkeley. Because I took a bunch of pictures, this is divided into several subpages.

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K). Click on the "huge" link to get the full size pictures (around 3M). Around 50 pictures included.

Part I: Golden Gate Bridge and Marin County
Part II: Marin and Sonoma Counties
Part III: Point Reyes National Seashore
Part IV: San Francisco

Point Reyes National Seashore: Inverness Ridge Trail

The next day (Sunday) I had the better part of the day free until around 5pm, so I went to Point Reyes National Seashore. It was south of Tomales, so it was in the right direction (I had a conference in Berkeley), but also it was on the coast which was forecast to be a reasonable temperature compared to non-coastal inland locations which was supposed to be ghastly hot.

[Inverness Ridge Trail at Point Reyes]
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After entering the park and talking with park ranger at the visitor's center, I picked a couple of locations to visit (the park is pretty big and would require a few days to do it any justice). The first stop was the Inverness Ridge Trail. I drove up a hill, parked, and headed out.

[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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While hiking on the Inverness trail, I had a nice view of the Point Reyes and beyond. Three shots looking west from there. I think the water visible in the pictures is Drakes Estero.

[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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More shots from the Inverness trail. I'm not sure if these three are supposed to be a panoramic view together, but they do fit together nicely. Probably just luck.

[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Looking west on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Marker and bench on the Inverness Ridge Trail]
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Another two shots looking west on the Inverness trail. And one of a USGS marker and a bench which was on a pull-off on the road up to the trail.

[Tree at the end of the road]
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[The One Tree]
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[View of mountains from Inverness Ridge Trail]
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There's a parking lot and after that you have to walk on foot. The first part of the trail, though, is on a road. There was a lone tree at the top of the road, kind of a One Tree sort of thing. I took a picture of it from a distance and then as I got closer. And finally a view of the hills visible from the trail. I'm not sure which hill it is.

[FAA weather station thingy]
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[FAA weather station thingy]
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[Antennas and more FAA stuff]
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At the end of the paved road (but general vehicles aren't allowed there) is a fenced in area. It seems to have some weather measuring devices, some electric transformers, and some antennas (point-to-point microwave relays) and some signs saying this is an FAA facility and don't mess with it.

The first picture is of the general fenced in area, the second is a closeup through the fence of the FAA warning sign on a door to the shack, and the third is of some of the hardware.

[Brief woods interlude]
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[Brief woods interlude]
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Beyond the FAA thing, there's a trail. Mostly it goes by grass and low bushes, but there are a few points when it passes through a small wooded area. It was nice to get in the shade, as the day was still pretty hot. So two pictures from the brief woodland interlude.

[Views from Inverness Ridge Trail]
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[Hilside views]
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[Views from Inverness Ridge Trail]
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After the wooded interlude, the trail comes out and has sime nice views of the hills in the area. The first shot is of the trail as it goes off in the distance, and two of the trees on the hillside.

[More Point Reyes views]
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[More Point Reyes views]
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[More Point Reyes views]
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Three more pictures of the view from the Inverness Ridge trail. Again, I think the water is the Drakes Estero.

[Another brief woods interlude]
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[Another brief woods interlude]
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And again, we passed through another forested area for another brief woods interlude. Because of the sun and dirt and such, it took on a funky sepia-tone, like an old black and white picture.

Once Again, Never Lost

Oh yes...I think I mentioned that I could not turn off the GPS. Guess what it was showing as my location?

[In the water again]
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[Not really in the water]
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Once again, the GPS showed me in the water. And once again, I was not in the water nor that close to water.

[Where IS Shell Beach?]
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But there was a sign where I pulled off for the previous picture. Shell Beach is always oh-so-close. Let's see, where was I at the time? I must've taken the main road to ... no, I turned off before I got to... hmmm...funny thing that, you never seem to remember exactly how you got to Shell Beach.

Point Reyes National Seashore: Abbotts Lagoon

After the Inverness Ridge trail, I went to Abbotts Lagoon. It's a sandy beach area surrounding some water. Kind of a desert-y, sand dune sort of place.

[Abbotts Lagoon sign?]
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First, a sign to verify that I was, indeed, at Abbotts Lagoon.

[Abbotts Lagoon]
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[Abbotts Lagoon]
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[Abbotts Lagoon]
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The three shots show there are some hills surrounding it, but the water borders a grassy area and a sandy area (the sand is visible in the distance in the second picture).

[Abbotts Lagoon boardwalk]
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[Abbotts Lagoon]
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[More Abbotts Lagoon]
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There was a boardwalk for part of the trail. Then just a path. The third shot shows the sand and grass on the hill next to the water.

[Abbotts Lagoon (left)]
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[Abbotts Lagoon (right)]
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[Abbotts Lagoon (far right)]
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The three shots form a sort of panorama of part of the lagoon. I'm not into HTML enough to try to raise the third picture so it aligns exactly with the second one, but you get hte idea..

[Abbotts Lagoon sand]
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[Abbotts Lagoon sand]
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[Abbotts Lagoon sand]
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More grass, sand and water. And then more sand and water. And finally, just sand.

[Abbotts Lagoon shore]
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[Abbotts Lagoon]
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The beach and then the far area which is a rocky, rather than sandy, shore.

[Water and reeds, Abbotts Lagoon]
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[Driftwood and water, Abbotts Lagoon]
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[Reeds and sparkling water, Abbotts Lagoon]
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A shot of reeds in the water. And then some driftwood on the shore. And finally the water glinting in the sunlight, with reeds in the foreground.

[Shore of Abbotts Lagoon]
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[Log by Abbotts Lagoon]
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[Frank sitting on a log by Abbotts Lagoon]
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A shot of me sitting on a log. It was a self-timer shot. And another shot of the beach and the lagoon.

[People walking on beach by Abbotts Lagoon]
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[California Quail in a bush by Abbotts Lagoon]
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Some people walking along the beach. Since it's so flat, it has a desert sort of look. And a picture of a California Quail sitting in a bush. It's the state bird and has a weird sort of thing coming out of the top of it's head.

Part I: Golden Gate Bridge and Marin County
Part II: Marin and Sonoma Counties
Part III: Point Reyes National Seashore
Part IV: San Francisco

Back to Frank's photos.




This page last modified Oct 17, 2009.
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