Bowling at the Beach?

 

Today I'm taking you to another beach in Mendocino County that we visited twice during our long weekend in Gualala. This beach has been on my list for several years, however, it is quite hidden and not easy to find. You really have to know the mile marker on Highway 1 to then find some parking off the highway. Fortunately there is a very small dusty parking strip near Schooner Gulch State Beach from where we took the narrow trail through the meadows to the bluff edge.

The trail was easy enough until you have to get down the bluff. The very last bit is the most challenging one. I admit, I just got on my butt to get down to the beach over the rocky cliff.

The beach is secluded and there was almost no one there.

Look at this - can you see the rocks in the water? That's why we're here.

Let's get a bit closer. 

These are the "bowling balls" that gave the beach its name.

So, what are they and how did they get here?

They are spherical sandstone concretions. Concretions are small pockets of extra-tough stone that formed inside sedimentary rock millions of years ago. Ocean waves crashed and carved  away at the softer sedimentary rock on the outside, leaving the concretions behind. Some of these bowling ball concretions are even peeking out from the sedimentary rock cliffs.

The bowling ball boulders can only be seen at low tide. When we got here, it was not a zero low tide when they are completely out of the water. But it was still impressive enough. As you can see, a lot of seaweed resides on these boulders.

This is a fantastic place for a geology nerd which I am unfortunately not. A lot of questions are still unanswered for me whereas for some I guessed a pretty logical answer.

Look at these ruts:

We are just a few miles South of where the infamous San Andreas Fault dives into the Pacific Ocean and there you can see a very similar pattern. I guess that all these ruts are related to the fault.

More ruts and boulders...

The beach was fascinating outside the water as well. No matter where you looked, there was something mesmerizing to discover.

I particularly liked this interesting formation.

Next to the boulders were rock formations that reminded me of Salt Point State Park.

There were so many bigger and tiny things to find on the beach - shells, pieces of abalone shells, a bat star (Patiria miniata) and a Gumboot chiton.

Seaweed was everywhere.

Since the tide was coming in, it was time to go. Halfway up the bluff, there was onle last view back to this hidden gem of a beach.

Two days later, very early in the morning, there was a zero tide. That was a very different experience. Stay tuned...

A Cabin in the Redwoods

 

When we spent the long Labor Day weekend in Gualala, we stayed in a lovely little cabin in the Redwoods along beautiful Highway 1, right across from the Pacific Ocean.

But before we got there, we met with our very good friends B and P at the Navarro Winery in Anderson Valley for our annual winetasting picnic. We started doing this last year and decided then to let it become a new tradition. B and P - a German-American couple - are very close friends of ours whom we met through our German Stammtisch group (curious what a Stammtisch is? Find out here). We spent four wonderful hours together in the beautiful vineyards of this winery off the beaten path that makes fantastic wine at an affordable price.

This one is for Nicole's Friday Face Off

After that the Geek and I were on our way to Gualala and our little cabin. It is a basic cabin, nothing fancy, and it's right at the Redwoods.

It has a decent sized room with a bathroom and a beautiful deck at the back. The skylight is right above the bed and I enjoyed looking up into the canopy of the trees. 

The room has a cozy little sitting nook where we had our breakfast and enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening while chatting, reading and knitting. The heater was very helpful in the chilly mornings and evenings.

The homemade breakfast was brought to our door every morning. It was delicious.

The Naked Ladies (Amaryllis belladonna, native to South Africa) were in full bloom and the deer weren't shy at all and seemed to hang out on the premises a lot. 

And finally, the view of the ocean. 

On the first morning we went to Gualala Point Regional Park. While Gualala is in Mendocino County, the regional park is still in Sonoma County and we could use our Regional Parks Pass here. The border between the two counties is in the middle of Gualala River which flows into the ocean at Gualala Point.

The first view of the ocean is from near the visitors center.

We decided to first go to the beach. Instead of walking down the paved path, we took the dirt trail through the "tunnels".

I was delighted about the Naked Ladies in the meadow, but not so much about the Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana). As the name says, Pampas Grass is native to southern South America and a highly invasive species at our coast. It looks beautiful, but it does a lot of harm to our native plants.

Someone had planted Nasturtium (Tropaeolum) on top of the cliffs and it was hanging down the cliff wall. Nasturtium is native to South and Central America, but as far as I know it is not invasive. It sure looked stunning in this location.

The beach is long and slightly curved with lots of driftwood and, of course, an abundance of gulls.

All this walking, taking photos and beachcombing (I took home some beautiful small driftwood for future art projects) makes hungry, so we decided to eat at our favorite seafood shack in town. Rockfish and chips on one day, a spicy tuna melt on the other. The three hispanic girls who work in this shack (and who might be the owners) are always very nice and pleasant, and their food is excellent. I'm really glad they made it through the pandemic. Other than many shacks I have seen in the States, they try to keep their single-use things at a minimum - the only plastic is the little container for the sauce and they use food grade paper to line the baskets. We have been going here for years and we have never been disappointed. Afterwards it was time for coffee at Trinks on the cliffs with a view of the ocean - Aztec Mocha for the Geek, a regular Mocha for me. Yummy.

My favorite part of Gualala Point, however, is not the beach, but the Bluff Trail. It offers endless views of the ocean along a narrow trail. We had expected foggy and cool days in Gualala as the weather so often is like that at our coast, but we had sunny weather throughout with temperatures in the 60s (a lovely relief to our much warmer inland temperatures). This made walking along the Bluff Trail even more enjoyable.

Of course I was delighted by all the plants we saw along the way as well as the often very gnarled trees. There are "tunnels" here as well - I actually call this trail the Hobbit Trail as I can picture it in Middle Earth.

Beautiful views everywhere...

And to my biggest delight we saw so many Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis)!

A little fun sidenote: A writing, office and art equipment company in Germany is called Pelikan. It was founded in Hannover in 1838. My first fountain pen I got (in first or second grade) was a Pelikan one and I had it for years. Today I'm writing with a Faber Castell fountain pen, but I still use the Pelikan ink cartridges (thanks, Amazon).

And finally a couple pictures at sunset, again at Gualala Point.