We find Tule Elk.....

Right! lets go team!......

The weekend before last we drove up to Point Reyes National Seashore with Marla and Henry.  This  beautiful region, only an hour or so north of Berkeley by car, is literally being torn away from continental US along the San Andreas fault forming a long, narrow and ever-widening stretch of water called Tomales Bay (see map below). Drakes Bay, to the south, was where Sir Francis Drake careened the Golden Hind in 1579 during his legendary circumnavigation.

View Point Reyes National Seashore in a larger map

Looking north to Tomales Point..... pacific ocean on the left

We made our way out to the Pt Reyes walk, hoping we would see Tule elk.  Why? Well, its a long story. On our Monterey trip we visited the wetlands at Los Banos, well-known for migratory birds and Tule elk (California's own endemic, almost extinct elk species).  We saw lots of beautiful birds on that trip, but alas, no elk… so we were starting to doubt their existence.  Our day at Pt Reyes was a beautiful sunny day, with a cool breeze blowing….at least we thought it was cool when we left Berkeley, when we got to Pt Reyes, that wind was freezing!!!!  Such a gorgeous sunny, freezing day!! It was beautiful up there, early spring and wild flowers out, the california poppy, wild irises, and canard lilies, just gorgeous.

We walked for maybe a km or so, rounded a corner, and there, down in a protected, grassy gully was a herd of about 50 Tule Elk!!!  We sat huddled out of the wind behind a mound and watched them graze.

Then Lisa spotted something moving down one of the hills to the right of the herd…..a wily coyote!  He got down level with the herd when 3 of the larger does saw him off away from the herd.  Very exciting to watch, but way too cold and we headed back for the car!!!

coyote (circled)

Pt Reyes and the surrounding Sonoma county have been important dairy producing areas for around 100 years. A mild maritime climate, good soils and plenty of the damp stuff make this a renowned spot for premium cheeses. Pierce ranch was established in the 1880's as a dairy farm. It is incredibly well preserved, most of the buildings have been mothballed but are still watertight due to the well preserved redwood roofing shingles. The large barn (below) was originally the milking shed accomodating 300 milking cows at a sitting. It must have been quite an operation....

old barn (milking shed)

redwood timber construction