Tag Archives: cypress

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Trees and Promontory

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Trees and Promontory
Windswept Monterey cypress trees atop a rocky promontory, Point Lobos State Reserve.

Trees and Promontory. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Windswept Monterey cypress trees atop a rocky promontory, Point Lobos State Reserve.

This was just about a perfect visit to an old favorite location, Point Lobos State Reserve, located on the Pacific Coast between Carmel and the upper reaches of the Big Sur region. Back home in the San Francisco Bay Area it was another 90+ degree blue-sky day,, but fog blanketed this coastal area, periodically thinning just enough to allow some directional light on the landscape.

This can be a very busy and often overcrowded park, but by going on a weekday and arriving very early I can avoid the worst of it, and even in the summer it is possible to. find morning solitude here. These windswept Monterey cypress trees grow at the edge of the Pacific Ocean where the moist fog sweeps in. The largest tree in this scene manages to survive perched atop this rocky promontory.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos

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Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos
Hidden behind a grove of trees, the Whalers Cabin sits on a bluff above Whalers Cove at Point Lobos

Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. July 18, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hidden behind a grove of trees, the Whalers Cabin sits on a bluff above Whalers Cove at Point Lobos

For may years I have visiting Point Lobos, the increasingly popular (and sometimes over-run) California coastal reserve along the Pacific Coast just south of Carmel. Decades ago my family visited when I was a child — I recall picnicking there, but most of all I remember exploring the tide pools and descending a steep old trail to a small beach that is now closed. While I knew limited areas of the reserve very well, there were other sections that I simply never visited: some of the forest trails, a few areas close to Monastery Beach and others.

One of the places that, oddly, I never visited was the little “Whalers Cabin” set back on the bluff above Whalers Cove, a sheltered and often placid bay that is protected from the surf of the open ocean. I visited the cove, and I’ve photographed there in the past, but I always went right past the cabin without stopping. This summer I finally stopped in and looked around a bit. As I understand it, whalers may have used the place, but so did fisherman. Today it is a small museum, and (as far as I know) the only very old historic structure still remaining in the park.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress, Cove

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Monterey Cypress, Cove
Two Monterey cypress trees on a bluff about a Point Lobos cove

Monterey Cypress, Cove. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. July 18, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two Monterey cypress trees on a bluff about a Point Lobos cove

This section of the northern coast of California’s Point Lobos State Reserve provides a number of striking views and overlooks, though many of them are at least partially obscured by the trees that grow thickly on the bluffs above cliffs that drop steeply down to the water. I often work my way very slowly through this part of the park — there is too much to see!

I paused at a bend in the trail and then decided to take a short dead-end lateral trail towards an overlook. Almost there, I looked to my right and saw this view down to the cove and its rocky surroundings, framed (or blocked?) by two cliff-hugging Monterey cypress trees. As I set up to photograph, two deer quietly walked up and stood between me and the scene for a moment!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Fog, Trees, Knoll

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Fog, Trees, Knoll
Monterey Cypress trees on a rocky knoll above the Pacific Ocean in foggy morning light, Point Lobos

Fog, Trees, Knoll. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. July 18, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Monterey Cypress trees on a rocky knoll above the Pacific Ocean in foggy morning light, Point Lobos

Driving to Point Lobos from the San Francisco Bay Area in the early morning, I was not quite sure what conditions I would find. The forecast was for fog, clearing out before noon, but you can hardly ever tell for sure how this will evolve. A few days early I had been here on a day with a similar forecast and it never cleared. On this morning, however, it turned out that the fog was actually thicker inland, and it turned out that it cleared at the coast first!

We hiked over to the north shore trail, starting at a bluff above Whalers Cove, then climbing up to the higher bluffs that skirt the north shore of the park above steep and rocky cliffs that drop straight down to coastal coves. At first the fog was gray and almost oppressive. One can photograph in such conditions, but it is difficult to work the flat light. But very soon something much better began to arrive. As the fog cleared and the fog/sun boundary moved across the shore, the foggy atmosphere began to glow, and even in this soft light the colors began to intensify.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.