The Day Just Got Better: Exploring Point Loma Tide Pools

Point Loma

Date: November 20, 2018
Place: Cabrillo National Monument, Sam Diego, California
Coordinates: 32.668319, -177.244522
Length: about 0.5 mile in  and out
Level: easy

The best distraction from actual hiking is the exploration of natural wonders such as tide pools. When we learned upon arriving Cabrillo National Monument that there are nice tide pools there and that low tide is expected in the afternoon we quickly dropped all our previous plans for after our Bayside hike. In stead, upon completing the hike we headed to the tide pools area to check it out.
This wasn't what I normally consider a hike because the walk the parking lot is very short. Despite the popularity of this place we were fortunate to find a parking spot that allowed us to minimize the hike and maximize our time at the pools.

Our walk from the Point Loma Tide Pools parking area to the tide pools

It's a short walk down to the tide pools and while Pappa Quail and the chikas hurried down the paved trail I paused to look around a bit.

Golden-club Cactus, Bergerocactus emoryi 

Right over the tide pools - a reminder sign for people to leave empty shells at the beach because they are recycled by hermit crabs who use them as homes.

The trail ends in a sort of high natural rock platform that overlooks the tide pools. By the time I got there the chikas were already down in the main area of the pools. I do not post a photo of this area here because all that can bee seen in these photos are the gazillion people that were there too that day. Focused my attention a little further out where the pools end and the ocean begun.

Great Egert 

The beautiful layers of sandstones are exposed by erosion.

Sedimentary rock layers topped with alluvial sand 

Interesting rock formations add to the geological beauty of this place. Some of these are the work of water and winds. Others, as I've seen lower by the tide pools, were made by mollusks.

I climbed down to the main area of the tide pools. My first challenge was to find the rest of my family in the crowd. It took me a while but eventually I detected the younger chika as she crouched over a small pool with hermit crabs. She informed me that the elder chika went around the big rocks in the deeper pools and that Pappa Quail went with her. I sat with my young chika for a some time, then wandered off to do some exploration myself. My other challenge was to get wide shots with as few people as possible. Later, I even had to crop those. It was really busy there that day.

Other than people, hermit crabs were the most active beings in the tide pools. It is, of course, their home, unlike the human visitors of Point Loma. Soon I, like my chika, was couching over a tide pool, mesmerized by the movements of the hermit crabs as they glided to and fro in the warm, shallow water, going about their business.

Hermit Crabs 

I found Pappa Quail as his usual pose of aiming his big lens camera at the sky. Gulls can be somewhat challenging to identify, especially when their legs are hidden. Even more so with the background sky so murky with smoke.

Ring-billed Gull

Pappa Quail pointed at where the elder chika was. To get there I had t climb the higher platform and down over the other side. This area was more into the ocean and the tide pools there deeper.

Elder Chika Quail exploring the tide pools 

There were much fewer people on that side of the rock platform. It was harder to climb down there,  and the pools were deeper and more frequently washed by the waves. But it was a much better exploration experience.
As I was climbing down (descending mostly on my behind) I paid attention to the critters stuck to the rocks. The move around during high tide and when the water recedes they adhere to the rock face to protect themselves from dehydration as well as predators.

Many of the rocks had round depressions done by acids secreted by mollusks. I don't know how long it takes them to dissolve a hole like that or wether it's done by a single animal or more. I'll look it up in the near future.

Some of the creatures I found at the pools were very familiar to me from the tide pools in Northern California.

Anemone

Others beings were new to me. This one looked like a coral but apparently it is a colony of sand castle worms.

Sand Castle Worm colony

I walked slowly in the tide pools, treading carefully as to not damage anything. Little fish swam from beneath my feet and rock crabs scattered from the rocks as I approached. There really is no way to tide pool with absolutely no disruption of the critters' lives there but I did try to be as inconspicuous as I could.

Every now and then I got rewarded by a crab that didn't run away from me but continued grazing peacefully on the sleek rocks.

Rock crab

The elder chika was busy too. As interested as she was in the little pool habitants she was more focused on the birds and got quite close to some of them.

Black Turnstone

Pappa Quail on the other hand, remained u on the rock platform and used his zoom to get optically close to the birds, photographing them from above.

Spotted Sandpiper

And while we all saw and admired the dolphins that graced us with their presence, Pappa Quail was the one able to get the photos.

Dolphins

The time passed and the tide started moving in again. More and more waves got over the rocks and washed into the tide pools.

Waves of green grass moved gently with the water. These were bunches of surf grass - a true plant, not an alga.

Surf Grass, Phyllospadix torreyi

Besides the surf grass there were many species of algae, or seaweed, all over the place. Although nt considered taxonomically as 'true' plants, they are like plants to me and I love them.

Rockweed, Silvestia compressa 

Small groves of red algae waved back ad forth with the water. The movement was so mesmerizing I could sit there and watch it for a long time.

Feather Boa Kelp, Egregia menziesii 

Outside the water the algae cover rendered the rocks very slippery and I had to be very careful about where I stepped, not only to protect the critters but also to avoid falling down. There cannot be haste when tide pooling, nor should there be any.

Bladdewrack, Fucus sp.  

I looked up and saw that both chikas had joined Pappa Quail on the high rock. Pappa Quail called me, saying it was time to go if we wanted to go anywhere else that day. So I slowly made my way up the sediment layers, pausing to appreciate the pretty clumps of barnacles attached to it. Soon the high tide would cover them and they'll open up and send their thin, filtration 'arms' out to grab what morsels the ocean had brought them.

Our way back to the parking lot was much quicker than our way down to the pools. I did pause a little to look at one thing or another, but when I got to the car I saw that all my family were already inside and ready to go.  

Goldenbush, Ericameria sp.

It was a very good place to visit, both the hike of the Bayside Trail and topping it off with the wonderful tide pools. All and all, the day was pretty much done. We did try to get to the nature center across the bay but it was closing as we got there, so we settled for a short sunset walk by the water and when daylight faded we were off to Chula Vista, where to spend the night. On the morrow we had planned to visit Border Fields State Park and had high hopes to see the famed magpie jay bird. 

Many thanks to members of the California Native Plants Society for their help in identifying plants and algae! 

Hiking the Bayside Trail at California's First Port of European Entry

Date: November 20, 2018
Place: Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California
Coordinates: 32.669819, -117.241215
Length: about 2 miles in and out.
Level: moderate

477 years ago a young explorer landed his boat ashore and climbed the high place that overlooked a large, beautiful Bay. This man was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo* (João Rodrigues Cabrilho**), the first European to have set foot on the shores of North America's West Coast. The hill he had climbed is now Cabrillo National Monument, with Cabrillo's memorial statue overlooking the San Diego Bay.
Cabrillo National Monument was the first site on our quickly thrown together vacation plan for Thanksgiving week of 2018. We arrived there after a long day's drive and a restful night at Chulla Vista. Our intention was to check out his historic place, hike an easy trail, then go to the bird preserves near the border. When we arrived at the visitor center however, we are informed of the nice Point Lome tide pools within the Monument area, and that low tide time was due just about when we thought we'd be done with our hike. And so we stayed at Cabrillo National Monument most of that day.
* The name as it appears in the park's brochure
** The name as it appears in Wikipedia

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo looking over the San Diego Bay

At the start of November 2018 we still had no plan for our Thanksgiving Break. After some debate we decided to go south instead of north, and by chance that was the best choice because during the three weeks that passed between our planning and our trip the devastating Camp Fire was crippling most of Northern California.
Southern California had its own devastating wildfires going on at that time, burning through the coastal communities of Thousand Oaks and of Malibu. By the time we arrived at San Diego the southern fires were mostly contained but not yet put out. The smoke was heavy in the air all the way to the Mexican border and clouded all of my wide view shots.
From the deck outside the visitor center there's a spectacular view of the San Diego Bay. We were there in perfect timing to see the USS Zumwalt going for a cruise. This is s stealth ship - designed to show up on the radar as a small boat. Very nifty!
Pappa Quail added the anecdote that it's former captain's name was James Kirk, which makes it all too precious :-)

USS Zumwalt

Views aside, we were there to hike. At the visitor center we got a map and directions and headed down to the Bayside trailhead. To get to the trailhead we had to go by the old Point Loma Lighthouse. I wanted to go inside to take a look but Pappa Quail wanted to get on with the hike.

Our hike as captured by Pappa Quail's GPS

 A red-tailed hawk circled overhead, checking out the scenery below.

Red-tailed Hawk (western, light, juvenile)

Late in November, I did not expect to see anything blooming. In fact, there was very little that was green there at all. Whatever was seen - the chaparral bushes -were seeding.

Desert Broom Baccharis, Baccharis sarothroides

But even much of the chaparral was dry, and appeared dead. It could be the prolonged drought that the area has experiences. Below a certain elevation the chaparral was green, however. Maybe there was less of a water shortage there?

Chaparral by the Bay

The apparently lifeless bushes made an excellent perch for a Say's Phoebe on the lookout for bugs.

Say's Phoebe

From the old Point Loma lighthouse we went down the road to the trailhead. The Bayside Trail is a wide and comfortable gravel road cut into the sandstone from which the hill is made and through the chaparral that covers it.

In places were the stone is exposed the rock layers can be seen. Layers of minerals and metal oxides paint the exposed layers with bright colors.

From further distance the intricate erosion effects can be seen in the bright, exposed sandstone.

We walked downhill at the quick pace. There were very few other people on that trail and we nodded each other while passing one another on our way down to the water.

Pappa Quail and the chikas spotted a while bee hive and hurried down the trail. I stopped and looked. The bees were quiet and content and didn't mind me watching them fro a few long minutes as they were going in and out of a small hole in the sandstone.

Wild bee hive

Pappa Quail wasn't interested in the small flying creatures. He was admiring the pelicans that kept passing above us in small formations.

Pacific Brown Pelicans

When we hike as family Ii usually let Pappa Quail and the elder chika to do all the bird photographing but I happened to chance on a cute brown bird in the bushes while they were already further down the trail so I snapped a few shots.

California Towhee

The trail was curving around the hillside and we were going north now, looking right into the mouth of the Bay. From that spot I could see that the trail will not lead us all the way down to the water and I was a bit bummed about it. I wanted to get my feet wet.

As I thought, the trail ended well above the water at a locked gate with a 'End of Trail, No Trespassing' sign. I few yards before that gate there was a bench and we all sat there and gazed longingly at the emerald water below us.

We hanged around the trail end for a while, not very eager to start going uphill again. There was no particular landmark there, just a nice view and some cute nature gems, like this pretty agave plant that was growing right at the edge of the trail near the bench.

Coast Agave, Agave shawii

Another Say's Phoebe (or perhaps the same one we saw near the trailhead? landed nearby and got Pappa Quail's attention.They are pretty bold for such small birds, perching out in the open where not only us but also raptors can see them. But they are quite agile fliers and as long as they aren't caught by surprise they can outmaneuver most any bird of pray. At least for the short distance it would take them to dive into the chaparral.

Say's Phoebe

The sand documented bird activities from earlier moments. Possibly that of a towhee.

Bird tracks

While we were taking our time at the end pf the trail a small armada of boats that looked as if escorting a larger ship made its way into the bay and I paused to look at them, a part of me wishing i was on one of these boats.

Closer to us were a few fishing boats followed by the signature gull envoy that were trying to get some of the booty. I could almost hear the "Mine! Mine! Mine!" of these birds.

Eventually we did get going again, clambering uphill on the same trail we came down on. It was an opportunity to take a second look at some of the interesting sights we had missed going down.

Sandstone layer coloration

We came across a few more hikers who were on their way downhill. Among them were three Hare Krishna guys dressed in bright orange and wearing sun protection over their shaven scalps. They were young and vigorous, and made it all the way down and back up, meeting us again as we stood panting at the top of the trail. At that point the elder chika asked them why they were dressed the way they were and we all listened politely to a short lecture about the Hare Krishna and their philosophy.

I lost interest in the religious discussion fairly early on and walked aside, where I discovered the only flower that I've seen that entire hike: a single inflorescence of a bush sunflower!

Bush Sunflower, Encelia californica 

When we got near the old Point Loma lighthouse again Pappa Quail took the chikas to the visitor center to give them snacks while I made a quick visit to the old lighthouse and crammed myself in the narrow circular stairway with a few other visitors to take a look at the beacon through the grate that blocked our way from going all the way up.

The Beacon of Old Point Loma Lighthouse 

When I rejoined my family I found that the elder chika had admired a cute California Towhee that seemed to have been admiring her too. I also found that a small Hare Krishna booklet had somehow appeared in our car. I suppose maybe I'll read it some time for the heck of it.

California Towhee

Now it was time to hurry everyone into the car and drive downhill to the west shoreline of Cabrillo National Monument to catch the low tide at the Point Loma Tide Pools.