MichelleWow! If I had realized just how beautiful this spot at Bodega Bay would be, I would have stayed longer than 2 nights. I stayed at Doran Regional Park campground that is in Bodega Bay, CA. The park resides on a long spit that sticks out into a horseshoe shaped bay. The entire length of the spit contains the Regional Park with Bodega Harbor on the inside of the spit, and the Ocean on the outside. The most incredible part being that I could walk to either side from my camp site in 2 minutes. Doran Beach (ocean side) is 2 miles of a crescent curved beach perfect for walking and watching the sun set. Although it seemed busy in the campground, there were very few people on the beach. It was sunny every day and in the mid 60’s which I sorely needed. It felt so good to soak up that sun! The waves were crashing big and wild and quite a few amateur surfers were trying their luck. When the waves would break, the water was turquoise in color. Just glorious! It was fun to watch the surfers try and catch a good wave. Some did and others crashed and burned. Sand burn, I’m sure! There were multiple trails in this area and I took the Bird Walk Coastal Access trail that skirted the harbor. It was a pleasant walk, but any water birds were too far away to see clearly. Walking on the beach I saw more water birds including some ‘tiny’ snowy plovers (see my pictures). I’d heard of them but didn’t realize just how tiny they are (4-5”L). You might miss them on the beach as they just scurry away when you get near rather than flying away. They blend in perfectly with the sand.
Since I only had one full day here, I spent most of it walking the trail and the beach. I was richly rewarded with a stunning orange & red sunset that evening. The colors were reflected in the beach water as waves receded. What a peaceful place. I was loathe to leave but it’s very hard to get reservations at this campground, so off I went.
My next stop was Pinnacles Nat’l Park southeast of San Jose. This used to be a National Monument and in 2013 was made a NP. I stayed on the East side of the park in the only campground available. However, I understand that the west side has better views. I hope so since I felt that this very small park was not very deserving of the National Park status. Not to confuse people but it is very pretty here, just not fantastic. There was an enormous number of birds here which kept me busy for hours. I was able to identify Western Scrub Jay, Acorn Woodpeckers (by the hundreds), Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Gray Catbird, Oak Titmouse, California Quail, White Breasted Nuthatch and Turkeys (which apparently are not native here). Coyotes were prevalent too and they ran through the campground daily. One day I hiked the Moses Spring – Bear Gulch Cave trail. This was a fun and interesting trail as it travels through two Talus Caves. A Talus cave is where large boulders have fallen on top of each other but create a cave below. Both caves had small creeks running through and tall narrow waterfalls inside. The part I wasn’t expecting was the myriad of stairs since the caves went ‘up’ the hill. I definitely got my ‘stair stepper’ routine in this day. The entrance/exit of the 2nd cave was so small I had to crawl on my hands and knees! Once through the first two caves I was going to loop back, but a young man coming down the trail said the reservoir above was great for pictures. Well, that did it! I had to go on. One more cave and several very narrow sets of stairs going up a cliff side (yes there was a railing, or I wouldn’t have done this as parts were only maybe 18” wide). The reservoir area was manmade but very pretty. The day was very still so perfect reflections played on top of the water. I found a pretty spot and sat for a needed break; or so my thighs demanded! The spires of rock here are reddish and gray in color. Big huge boulders are tumbled about all over the area. Apparently, this park gets pushed 1.5” further north every year because it is above a fault line that continues to shift. As I was sitting and resting my weary thighs, I started to contemplate how I would go back down the trail. I had walked further than intended and was already bushed. I was NOT looking forward to all those stairs and bending over in the caves even if it was downhill. The RIM Trail was available to take back to the parking area, and since I’d already gone uphill, I made an assumption that the Rim Trail would be ‘downhill’ back to the parking lot. My deductive reasoning paid off and the trail did indeed go very steeply downhill without any stairs. I was so glad I didn’t go up that trail… it would have been too much for me. I did truly enjoy this trail as it was quite unique. Still, it just didn’t live up to my National Park expectations!
A side note: Take a look at my pictures of Acorn Woodpeckers. There are several types of Oak trees here, one being deciduous and the other being non-deciduous. Acorn Woodpeckers will peck holes in trees then stuff an acorn in each hole, storing it for winter. If you look at my pictures you will see an example of this activity, reflecting the acorns stuck in the sides of trees. Very interesting and hundreds of these woodpeckers were hard at work!
