Elephants of the Sea

From last week's find of petroglyphs near the Piedra Blanca rock formations in Los Padres National Forest (See Pictographs Found), we head to the rocky Pacific Ocean shore of Piedras Blancas Rookery.  

Friends of the Elephant Seal explains the area best: the "Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris, is an extraordinary marine mammal. It spends eight to ten months a year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5000 feet deep for periods of fifteen minutes to two hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting and rest. The Piedras Blancas rookery, on Highway 1 seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast, is home to about 17,000 animals."  This number is difficult to fathom.  Yet in visiting the breeding ground, we were able to take in the sea of seals, masses of birds, and even an otter!

XplorMor Big Sur - Elephant Seal Rookery Expedition

Unfortunately due to the crowd of onlookers pushing to get a shot with their cameras, smartphones, camcorders, it was difficult not only to glimpse the main Elephant Seal beach but to even get into the main parking lot!  Fortunately, a few hundred feet up the road there is another smaller parking area.  We easily found a space here, but don't count on it as this lot filled up quickly too.  Get to the Rookery early to beat the crowds.  It is definitely worth a stop as you may even witness a pup being born (peak time: mid to late January).

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XplorMor Big Sur - Elephant Seal Rookery Expedition

Friends of the Elephant Seal is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about elephant seals and other marine life and to teaching stewardship for the ocean off the central coast of California.  If there is something you would like to know about elephant seals, or about other marine mammals that inhabit this area, these are the people to contact!  Membership is also offered to help support this wonderful cause: JOIN.

Pictographs Found

Success!  Team XplorMor has hiked the Piedra Blanca Trail in Los Padres National Forest, located near the Ojai Valley in Southern California, numerous times to study its unusual rock formations, and to seek out the well hidden petroglyphs.  On this last expedition we located them, and discovered three important points: first, there's more than one location, second, it's good they are hidden as one of the locations has serious vandalism, and third, they are not petroglyphs but pictographs.  I'll explain the difference...

XplorMor Piedra Blanca Expedition

There are four major types of rock art: petroglyphs, cupules, geoglyphs, also known as intaglios, and pictographs.  Petroglyphs are rock engravings produced by carving or striking the rock surface using various techniques (See photo: Darien Gap).  Cupules are small cup-shaped indentations made in rock that may appear in a pattern or at random.  They are a type of petroglyph in that stone is ground or carved out to create them.  Geoglyphs are giant drawings made on the ground presumably depicting geometric designs, human forms and animals.

Pictographs are a fragile cousin to petroglyphs.  They are designs drawn on rock surfaces with paints made from natural mineral pigments applied with fibrous brushes or with hands and fingers.  These pigments were mixed with binders such as oil, blood or urine.  Hematite (iron oxide), the most common color in Southern California, was used for creating red paints, and presumably those of Piedra Blanca.  Pictographs were typically drawn in caves, overhangs and alcoves where they would be better protected from harsh weather elements.

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XplorMor Piedra Blanca Expedition

A Hiker's Promised Land

Big Pine Creek North Fork Trail in Inyo National Forest, California has it all: from spectacular views of 14+ lakes, 14,000 ft. mountain peaks, and access to the southernmost glacier in the United States and the largest in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Palisade Glacier.  There are flowing rivers and waterfalls, rocky switchbacks, Golden Trout, Jeffrey and Lodgepole pines, Aspens, a gorgeous rock cabin built by Lon Chaney Sr. and glacier-fed lakes.  This trail is truly a nature lover's paradise.

Big Pine Creek North Fork Trail

John Muir once said, “The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness."  Big Pine Creek North Fork Trail gives life to these words.  From the moment your car leaves the 395 at Big Pine, California and heads into Big Pine Canyon, it's clear another world awaits; the further into the canyon, the clearer the vision.  The road ends at the parking area for Inyo National Forest, and the trailhead for accessing Big Pine Creek North and South Fork trails.

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Second Lake

Shutout but not Shutdown

The planned XplorMor photo-expedition to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was thwarted by the U.S. government shutdown.  We had to think quickly as we were already enroute to the parks.  Thanks to Starbucks and WiFi, we soon discovered another option: Mono Lake and other California State and Local Parks.

South Tufa Trail, Mono Lake, California

We re-routed our journey, and set course a little disoriented, yet optimistic.  Apparently we were not alone, encountering locals and travelers from Californians to Englishmen to Eastern Europeans to a Japanese couple who were also adrift and uncertain how to reorient themselves.  As the days unfold, Good Fortune seems to have followed along for the duration with one lovely adventure leading into the next.  Even the weather has behaved beautifully. And instead of another trip to Sequoia, though beautiful and worthy of numerous visits, the new destinations are exactly that: new.  Finding places and trails and scenic views not previously experienced adds to the excitement.

Lundy Canyon Trail

There has been exceptional photo opportunities and memory-making moments to share.  So with life's lemons, we made tasty lemonade and despite the shutout, we were not shutdown.

View slideshows and read more about Inyo National Forest.