Sculpture Beach, Pt. Reyes National Seashore

You can see how this beach gets its name! It's a place of sandstone, mudstone and other rocks eroded by wind, streams and ocean waves. If you want to see a wild, surreal and gorgeous place, this is it! Of the places we visit, Pt. Reyes, especially this area is one of my favorites and a kind of home.

The Point Reyes peninsula is basically a huge block of granite that is located on the Pacific Plate. It is sliding northward along the North American plate, which is sliding southward. The two plates meet at the San Andreas Fault. YIKES!

The high ridge at Point Reyes is called the Inverness Ridge. It is largely covered with Douglas fir forests, and with coastal scrub plant communities.
A huge fire blasted through Pt. Reyes about 15 years ago. It has largely recovered, but you can still see trees that were burnt.

On a good day you can see California grey whales migrating north to Alaska9 spring and early summer) and south to mexico (autumn). We didn't see any today, but we did encounter a young elephant seal who was resting on the beach. It appeared to be sick at first, but it swam away this morning. They do come ashore to rest when they need to. Good going, seal!