California Coast Big Waves Hike

Self ^ | January 20, 2018 | ProtectOurFreedom

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I haven't posted any "Hiking California" threads in a while. I joined a couple of local MeetUp hiking groups and these folks move at a good clip, so not much time for photography. But it's great fun getting out with others with similar interests and very motivational.

When I went to bed on Thursday (Jan 18, 2018), the local news said that there were 55 to 60 foot waves at Mavericks north of Half Moon Bay (this is not far south of San Francisco). So, when I woke yesterday morning and saw we had a glorious morning, I decided I had to head to the coast and see the waves and weather myself (it is great being retired and being able to do these things on the spur of the moment!)

All photos taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 with my recently acquired (used) Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Lens. These are the first shots I've taken with this lens and it was a joy to use. I shot single-exposure RAW photos and post-processed in Aurora HDR 2018.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

At Half Moon Bay, I turned south and first stopped at the San Gregorio State Beach. The spectacular surf brought a fair number of people out on a Friday, but it wasn't crowded by any means. Hearing and seeing the roaring, pounding surf was really spectacular -- it was as loud as I've heard it. This first shot is looking south along the mist-shrouded bluffs at San Gregorio toward the sun. This was about an hour after high tide; huge "rogue" waves can hit at any time and people were wise to stay off the beach. The waves were coming in normal sets of 5 - 7 waves, then a relatively calm period, followed by another set. Every fifth or sixth set was especially large and you could see the big swell forming offshore indicating a big set was coming in.

This is also at San Gregorio State Beach, but looking north toward Half Moon Bay.

After lunch at Duarte's in Pescadero, I took the Cloverdale Road south parallel to the coast, past Butano State Park, and emerged on Highway 1. A short run back north on 1 brought me to Pigeon Point where the Pigeon Point Lighthouse is located. On the night of June 6, 1853, the clipper ship "Carrier Pigeon" ran aground 500 feet off shore providing the name for the point. The lighthouse was built in 1871 and is the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast of the US. It was somewhat shrouded in mist, so I focused on the crashing waves in the cove just south of the lighthouse.

The tall rock is called "Prisoner's Rock" because so many fisherman have gotten stranded out there when high tide rolls in. The vantage point on Pigeon Point was incredible because I could look back at shore or straight down the crests of the waves and see the mist pouring off the top of the breakers.

Enjoy!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Pinging the “California Hikes & Outdoors” group. Let me know if you would like on or off.

[chris37]

Boy I’d love to take my Shepherds hiking anywhere along there.

And Mavericks waves are WAY TOO BIG for me to surf, but so beautiful there.

[nickcarraway]

Nice!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

There were all sorts of warnings to surfers Thursday and Friday to stay out unless you really know what you are doing. A couple guys reported they tried to get out to the breaks, but couldn’t make it.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks! Not much of a hike yesterday...mainly a photo expedition and strolling / scrambling around hills, coves and shore rocks looking for good shooting locations.

[easternsky]

The first two honestly look like paintings, bottom ones stayed awhile pretending I was there. Thank you so much for sharing these so all can enjoy especially those who have left their footprints there.

[sheana]

Beautiful pics. The first one is award worthy.

[Ken522]

These are some great photographs - thank you for sharing them with us!

[Grampa Dave]

About 15 years ago my wife and I were at Carmel during this week in January.

There was a surfing contest, and helicopters were dropping the surfers into the water a mile or so off shore.

Even those pros couldn’t get past the incoming waves.

The huge waves would come crashing into the beaches making any landing a big question mark. That coupled with the King tides forced many surfers to leave their boards and run like hell inland after they hit the beach.

[Fiji Hill]

Great photos!

[larryjohnson]

I sent this to my Humboldt surfing son.
I also saved this from your home page

“Good wine makes good blood, good blood causeth good humors, good humors cause good thoughts, good thoughts bring forth good works, good works carry a man to heaven, ergo, good wine carrieth a man to heaven.”
James Howell (1594-1666)

[Cvengr]

Some EQ threads had reported a 6.6 Earthquake down in the Sea of Cortez and some others off of South America, with the preceding 24 hours of ocwan currents changing flowing northwards from South America but southwards from North America leaded towards Honduras.

I don’t know if its fake news, but it would be interesting to look at NOAA buoy trends.

[sparklite2]

Please get me off this list!

[Tax-chick]

Beautiful shots. Thanks for posting!

[HereInTheHeartland]

Awesome pics.
There is a bakery in Pescadero that has some really good bread stuffed with artichokes

[KC Burke]

Wonderful shots. For some who may not know it, Mavericks is a famous big surf area unlike anything on the California coast. It is off shore beyond rocks that kept it from being utilized until about 1970 when a surfer or two started haunting these big wave days.

You will like this story. A few days before New Years last year, my buddy took me up in his small experimental aircraft and we flew back and forth over the Mavericks so I could look toward shore from out there. Dang that does not look inviting.

[Yossarian]

Awesome! Please add me to this group - I’m in the Silicon Valley.

[SpaceBar]

Life behind the arugula curtain.

[Quilla]

Breathtakingly beautiful! Thank you for posting.