Sunday, May 22, 2011

Point Lobos

Last December I was accepted into the Point Lobos docent program - I know, I know, another volunteer gig. What can I say, I'm a volunteer addict :-)

Point Lobos is a California State Reserve, which is the most protected type of state park in California. Point Lobos is a beautiful seaside park with many trails to hike and a rich history. The Spanish who built the Carmel mission in the 1850s named the area Punto de los Lobos Marinos (point of the sea wolves), and the sea lions (as we now call them) still hang out on the rocks offshore. I have had to study the park's flowers, trees, birds, animals, geology, and history - it was a much bigger undertaking than I though it'd be when I signed up, but I'm so glad I stuck with it!

I have had the opportunity to take a lot of pictures while studying Point Lobos. Here are a few of my favorite.

Seaside Painted Cup (a native, Spring flower) overlooking Carmel Bay:
A Monterey Cypress tree with a green algae (which has beta carotene that makes it red) called Trentapholia clinging to its lower branches:
A succulent called Bluff Lettuce clinging to some of the granodiorite (a metamorphic rock that formed when dinosaurs roamed the earth) near Cypress Point:
A path through one of the many meadows:
And finally, a short video of one of the many coves during a stormy day:

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