Hiking at Point Lobos outside Carmel (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
My family liked hiking in Point Lobos just three miles south of Carmel, California, so when my daughter’s Waldorf School asked for chaperones for a geology field trip there I readily accepted.
Point Lobos juts out with jagged coves into the Pacific with
waves crashing all around it. Gnarled
cypress tree forests create many photo opportunities. The name “lobos” comes from Spanish for “sea
wolves,” referring to the sea lions that Spanish explorers saw.
Europeans first arrived in 1769 to this area where
descendants of what is called the Ohlone tribe lived. Whaling was practiced here and there was an
abalone cannery in operation at one time, too.
The photographers Edward Weston (1886 – 1958) and Ansel Adams (1902 –
1984) both photographed Point Lobos for posterity. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894) is also
said to have drawn his inspiration for Treasure
Island from Point Lobos.
When our school group arrived, a reserve docent gave us a
tour and talked about the two main rock types at Point Lobos: igneous Santa
Lucia granite and sedimentary Carmelo Formation.
The Santa Lucia granite was formed below the earth’s surface,
uplifted, exposed, and then worn down by waves and weather into diverse
forms. We walked along the beach and
took pictures of all the jutting granite.
Granite is an igneous rock formed by the cooling and hardening of
lava. Santa Lucia granite is called
intrusive, because it forms underground.
We walked through a meadow of poison oak (no touching
allowed!) to view sedimentary Carmelo Formation rock. Carmelo Formation is a sedimentary rock that
is formed by mineral and/or organic deposits on rocks that form layers. (I wondered if the organic deposits were bird
feces called guano.)
These two types of rock formed different types of sand,
which the reserve docent showed us.
Igneous Santa Lucia granite makes fine-grained sand that is deposited by
waves. Sedimentary Carmelo Formation
rock makes “large pebble” sand that rolls around in storm surf.
Once our formal tour was over, we broke into two
groups. I took my group to see the
whaling cabin. The most interesting
there was the whale jawbone on display.
I picked it up and lowered the jawbone over my head and
said, “I don’t think I would go swimming with a whale.” Some species of whale just eat plankton
(microscopic plants) and krill (microscopic crustaceans), but other species eat
fish, shrimp, squid, sea lions, walruses, seals, sharks, and sea birds.
Sea lions and their pups were on the beach where the whaling
station was.
“Don’t go down there.
They might hurt you defending their children,” I said.
We all watched the sea lions play with their children and
rest. Even the rowdy students in the
class were transfixed and quiet by the sea lions.
When we had to leave, I knew the students would be in an
inquisitive state of mind to study mammals (warm-blooded animals whose female
members carry babies inside of them till they are born) – the next unit at
school.
My husband Laurent and I brought Florence back to Point
Lobos to see whales surfacing and diving on their way from Alaska to
Mexico. The whole class went on a whale
and dolphin watching boat trip as well.
Monterey County is very much an outdoor classroom.
By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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