Fourteen Turlock High WildLink club members had an amazing day visiting Point Reyes Nation Seashore. While it seems entirely implausible that students growing up a mere two hour drive from the Pacific Ocean had never in their life seen the ocean or touched sand, it is a reality for many of our club members! To remedy the situation our club members got to experience many “firsts” by visiting Point Reyes National Seashore. It was the first time any of them had stood on an actual fault, the first time many of them had seen the ocean, the first time many of them had seen elk, the first time any of them got to run their toes through the sand, etc, etc.
The day was nearly perfect. Temperatures were in the mid fifties with nearly 30mph winds. But our reward for braving the wind was a crystal-clear day in which we could literally see for miles. We started the day by entering the park from S.F. which required a beautiful drive across the Bay & Golden Gate Bridges. We then stopped for a fun geology jaunt along the San Andreas Fault and its rupture zone from the 1906 earthquake. We then headed out to Pierce Point Ranch on Tomales Point for a birds-eye view of the azure Pacific while on a four mile hike. Along the way we got lucky and spied some large Tule Elk very close to the trail, but no whales out in the sea.
The last stop of the day was at the amazing Kehoe Beach. Not only was there good geology (seeing the Laird Sandstone, the Monterey formation and Salinian granitics) but there were also tons of freshly deposited jelly fish! Not to mention the tide was out and everyone got to get their feet a bit wet and sandy. A great day was had by all and it would have been better if the doggone clock hadn’t lost an hour on Sunday morning!
