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| Beautiful surf scoters could be seen in the ocean, below the trail (image from Wikimedia). |
We wanted to celebrate the first day of the new year by walking along the Devil's Slide trail. It's been closed to vehicle traffic since the Tom Lantos Tunnels were completed in March 2015. The wide, paved trail, where Highway 1 used to wind high above the Pacific, is the perfect spot for watching sea birds, gazing out to the western horizon for sunsets and migrating gray whales, and hearing the shush of surf breaking endlessly on the beaches below.
A lot of other folks had the same idea to enjoy the coastal trail on New Year's Day, so we had to exercise patience to wait for a parking spot. It's a fairly short trail segment, only 1.3 miles each way, though, so we didn't have to wait too long for people to return to their car. It'd be nice if there were double the spots in each parking lot at each end of the tunnels.
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| Panoramic vistas along the trail (image by Sharol Nelson-Embry) |
Once out on the path, though, it was a glorious, unseasonably warm, clear day with the high hills sheltering us from the wind most of the way. The rolling trail gave us great views down on the coast. Small rocky offshore islands harbored many kinds of seabirds. We could hear their muted calls drifting up to us. With my binoculars, I could pick out cormorants with their long, snake-y necks and glossy black feathers - looking like their nickname, the "crows of the sea." They shared their rocky islands with what appeared to be common murres and some varieties of gulls. Outside the nearshore surf I could pick out rafts of diving ducks, mostly surf scoters -- black birds who float then dive down and use their colorful, sturdy bills to grab clams and other mud-dwelling critters from the sand below. A few brown pelicans soared over the waves.
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| Looking uphill, the stratified rock shows how it was uplifted and folded by the earth's forces (image by Sharol Nelson-Embry) |
The fascinating rock formations along the land-side of the trail give clues to the geology of the area. Once, layers of sediment and rocks gathered under the ocean floor only to be pushed up by the force of the Continental and Pacific plates colliding along the coast. The layers have been curved, lifted on end, and even rolled back on each other by the force. The layering of these sedimentary rocks along the steep slope of the hills and constant undercutting by the ocean waves at the bottom of the hill have made this a notoriously unstable portion of the coast. Highway 1 was closed off and on for many years while engineers attempted to stabilize the land around the roadway. It's much better now to have the tunnels for vehicles and save this area along the coast for pedestrians, bikes, and horses.
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| Spectacular views mesmerize with views of boats, whales, and birds (image by Sharol Nelson-Embry) |
The late afternoon sun gleamed a golden path along the ocean on our return trip back to the parking lot, pointing toward sunset and the end of the first, fresh day of the new year. We enjoyed a snack (healthy veggies and fruit - it was New Year's Day after all!) and a couple of acrobatic ravens landed near us to see if we would share our bounty. I explained my policy of leaving wildlife wild to one who came near and gave me a few low "caws," as if asking for an exception. The two then proceeded to turn over small stones and bark mulch with their thick black bills searching for seeds and insects. We looked out far to sea, searching for any gray whale activity, but only saw the distant white sails of a small boat.
As we returned to our car, we reflected on how fortunate we are to live in an area where such beauty is a short drive away. We also determined that 2018 will be a good year to get out for hikes more often. There are so many places, near and far, to explore. Come back to this blog for regular updates about our further adventures. We will also be participating in the East Bay Regional Parks "Trails Challenge" which is celebrating it's 25th year anniversary. It's free and self-paced; you can find more information about it on the Regional Parks Foundation website. Where are you excited to visit this year?
Resources:
EBRPD Trails Challenge: http://www.ebparks.org/TrailsChallenge
Devil's Slide Coastal Trail: http://www.devilsslidecoast.org/about-devils-slide-coast/
Map of Devil's Slide trail:
http://parks.smcgov.org/sites/parks.smcgov.org/files/Map_from_DSTrailBrochureMarch2014.pdf
All About Birds (Common Murre and other birds): https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Murre/lifehistory
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