Whalers Knoll, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. July 10, 2010© Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
View of foggy Pacific Ocean from Whalers Knoll, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.
Whalers Knoll is yet another feature of Point Lobos named after “whalers” – Whalers Cove is another. Sometimes when I hike the trails along the north shore of the park I detour up a trail to the top of the knoll, from which there is a view of a larger expanse of landscape and seascape. But still, given the rough and rugged landscape of Point Lobos, there is no clear and unobstructed view – instead you can see the ocean between ridges and peaks and then only by looking for a spot where the Monterey Cypress trees are not as thick.
Although Point Lobos is a very popular park, it is usually possible to find some solitude by walking away from the most popular shoreline areas and hiking a bit. Since this trail is a bit out of the way and involves a climb, it isn’t unusual to be alone on at this lookout, especially on a foggy day when many visitors find the view from their cars to be sufficient!
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Funny you would mention the poison oak – I had to be quite careful about that!
Dan
I have mentioned it a few times over on EveryTrail.com, the Whaler’s Knoll trail is my favorite in the Reserve, mostly for the reasons you point out, it’s a little out of the way, has a bit of climb, so there isn’t as much traffic. That makes things better for birding, Also it is a little less sanitized than the other trails, you can actually brush into poison oak while waking on it. It is a good trail to see collections monarch butterflies during their northward migration. While the views are somewhat restricted you can get good views out over Carmel Bay and occasionally spot whales and dolphins.
As one of the highest points in the Reserve, that was once its primary purposes, hence the name. With the more liberal logging practices of the time, you can be certain that the views out over the ocean were much better then. So you could sit up on the hill, spot some spouts, raise a flag, and boats down in the Cove would head out.