Edge of the continent

On Saturday, my new roomie Bronwyn and I joined the Mountain Tribe group for a hike in Pt. Reyes in Marin -- up to Mt. Wittenberg, the highest point in the Pt. Reyes National Seashore.
There were about 14 people in the group and we set out in the chilly, foggy, coastal morning.
A Great Blue Heron came through to hang out and listen to Bob's opening remarks. A "great" way to start the day.

I thought this sign was kind of funny. There are a couple of reasons why, but none of them sound very funny when I try to say them outloud.
The group starting out. Bronwyn and I stuck with them for a while but when we realized that we could hike 2-3 times as fast and that we (read: she) wasn't worried about alienating the group by ditching them, we got in front and headed up the mountain, stopping at every junction to wait and get our next direction.
You know what poison oak looks like, right? Here it is. Bronwyn claims to have a natural immunity, the opposite of me, but that's why I wear long pants to hike in.
I guess I could have edited this photo a bit. It's a buck that was hanging out in a field as we waited at a sign. Didn't seem to mind us at all -- just went right along his grass-eating business.
The haunted forest. I realized this photo is fuzzy. This is how it turned out without the flash on, but is a more accurate representation of how the forest looks, with its dead trees and spooky ambience.
This photo is not fuzzy, but the flash completely changed the look of the forest. Lovely even when lit up, methinks.
B & I took about 25 pictures trying to get one where we didn't look weird or scary or just plain ugh. B thinks she has freaky eyes in this one, but I thought it was cute.
All by myself in the forest. Bravely smiling.
At the top of Mt. Wittenberg (a never-ending climb up -- great for someone who is obsessed with her heart rate monitor), there's this medalion that the u.s. geological survey people put up there. Climb climb climb and we came to no view, save this medalion. Hmm. We didn't even know when we'd gotten to the top because the trees are so thick and the trail just sort of opens up and eventually loops around.
Heading out to Arch rock, we kept getting glimpses of the coastline -- cloudy, still, but lovely just the same.
Made it. The edge of the world.
Apparently there are lots of sea canyons that one could explore -- especially at low tide.
Lunch time. Pull up a chair.



The road back, looking out toward the coast.

All in all, it was about 10-12 miles (I saw Bob, our hike leader, today who guessing it was 12 miles). I commented to Bronwyn that it was like going out and walking nearly a 1/2 marathon, with no real training (hence my toe blister), with gigantic hills, both up and down, uneven terrain, and a backpack with food/layers of clothes/water. If we had put it that way initially, we probably wouldn't have been all gung-ho about doing the hike. As it was, it was just 'going for a hike' some Saturday.