So I got a bunch of people input on my plan to go North to Fort Bragg along Hwy 1. I tried to do most things and see as much as I could. I did make Pt Reyes and took lots of pics along the coast going North. I wore that little Ford Focus out in the turns and had a blast doing it. I wold love to take that drive in a real sports car. I took over 150 pictures and won't clutter the post up with all of them but feel free to check out the album to see them all.

http://s560.photobucket.com/user/mack5511/library/Pt%20Reyes%20to%20Ft%20Bragg%20Sept%202014

Almost got high centered taking this pic on the Kings Mountain Road.



Half Moon Bay





CA Grey Whale Skull at Pt Reyes



Lighthouse





[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0371_zps6e6a9f27.jpg[/img]

Blacktail Buck?





Does sitting way up on the rocks above me.





Some kind of bird. It was like playing frogger with all the birdwatchers out there. I spoke to one gentleman who explained it was migration season and there would be many people out on the weekend. He wasn't kidding they were all over.



More deer.



[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0392_zps1b280c5a.jpg[/img]

I missed getting a picture of a really nice buck as he was skulking around the edges of the hill. I tried but he was not hanging around for pictures.

Elk

Mack, if you are up in the Bay Area and want one hell of a drive. Exit 101 at 84/Woodside Rd. and take it all the way to the coast, you can only go one way a mile or so to the East and you hit the bay (go the other way) and it's about the prettiest 45 miles you'll ever drive... through Redwood City, Woodside, and up through the forest to the cliffs along the coast there on PCH or 1.

Here's an interactive map you can follow the route;

Link



Phil

Phil,

That is how I got over to Half Moon Bay through Woodside. Very pretty drive.

Mack

I am going to Caramel this coming weekend and will probably take the same general route through Woodside.

Coast pictures:













Some kind of squirrel.

[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0453_zps70767232.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0456_zps0fb134ea.jpg[/img]

Nice pics.
I've been to the light house on days when it was so windy I could lean forward into the wind at what felt like 45 degrees. Politics aside, I live in a beautiful state.

Ft Bragg isn't in CA

Mack, glad you enjoyed yourself. Hard not too on that route...cool you got to scope the elk, they don't always show themselves.

What was your favorite part? Did you get onto glass beach? Please tell me you stopped in north coast brewery and sampled some libations??:)

You better tell 'em, quick!
http://www.fortbragg.com/

Snyper you may want to find a map. There certainly is a Fort Bragg in CA.

Certifiable,

I got onto glass beach and rode the skunk rr up into the red woods. Yes I have a 6 pack of North Coast in my hotel fridge.

Had some great food at Silvers.

The whole drive was awesome, lots of great scenery.

Mack

Ft. Bragg isn't in NORTHERN California!

Glass Beach:









Some type of flowers:



Skunk Train:



[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0488_zps3c2c1be0.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0489_zpsde65dc58.jpg[/img]

Tubby guy in a tree:

[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0492_zpsc5928a2e.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i560.photobucket.com/al...pt%202014/SAM_0506_zps9c2aea2c.jpg[/img]

From wikipedia:


Fort Bragg CA


Looks to me like it is there. Unless I went through a break in the space time continuum.

I should have known the Govt was stupid enough to have two with the same name

This is the one I know about:
http://www.bragg.army.mil/Pages/Default.aspx

Fort Bragg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bragg,_North_Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, located in Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett and Moore counties, North Carolina,

Well I've lived on Ft Bragg NC for two and half a years... and have also been to Ft Bragg CA multiple times...

Rumor has it that there is more than one Washington in the country also....

Damn pretty country, thanks for the pictures Sir.

When you go to Carmel, make sure to go to Point Lobos State Natural Preserve. China Cove is beautiful.

I remember that whale skull

Next time you go north over the Golden Gate, immediately take the first exit past the bridge, and you will go up the hill to the Marin Headlands. A couple miles up the winding road and you'll have a spectacular view of the bridge, and the city beyond it.

Hard to beat the beauty of the California north coast. Spent a lot of time up there growing up.

Agreed. Northern CA is some of the most beautiful country I've seen.

That's the one for me too. Spent about two months or so at THE REAL Fort Bragg back in 67 for basic training.

Ft. Bragg CA predates Ft. Bragg NC by about 60 years.

They are both named for the same Confederate general.

Derby Dood continues to be an idiot.

That's our history lesson for the day.

Some people just don't wanna let Cali have anything..
To the people who have visited the fake Fort Bragg, it seemed pretty real and beautiful to us anyway..

Mack glad you enjoyed your trip north and continue to enjoy the abundance of beauty the state has to offer.. And Carmel stinks like money so be sure to wear your best

Certifiable,

The picture of me in the tree is my best. Cargo shorts and t-shirt if they don't like it tough beans. I doubt I will be rubbing shoulders with any of the local rich folk anyway. If I get real fancy I may church it up with a polo shirt I guess, that should suitably impress them. LOL

Mack

awwwwww don't talk politics or mention anything positive about Oregon... and you'll be fine... they might not even notice you're from "out of town".....

Most Californians aren't all that bad... unless they are wearing Birkenstocks and Tie/Dye T Shirts...and smell like Burnt Rope all the time...

I did talk politics with an old hippie in Novato, imagine my surprise when he watched fox news and didn't vote for Obama. He came out in 67 to see Hendrix at the Monterrey Pop Festival and never left. Family was all ex-Navy and he was a pretty nice guy for looking like he stepped out of Woodstock.

I was truly shocked. LOL

Seafire you feelin ok??

All good Mack the attire is fine, just pullin your leg..
But seriously, don't get run over by a Bentley..

Right on the other side of those radar installations is where the legendary surf spot "Mavericks" is, when the conditions are right.

That spot is right by half moon bay and is inaccessible overland. You use to be able to take the access road to the satellite antenna to the beach. They closed it off to increase the security around the antenna.

Jim,

Thanks for sharing all those great pictures. It looks like you had a great weekend, and you are definitely getting your money's worth out of that rental car.

There aren't too many places in the country where a big guy like you can have his picture taken inside a tree.

I like your picture of a blacktail deer's black tail. As you saw the blacktails are smaller than mule deer.

That "Some kind of a squirrel" you saw is the notorious, Bubonic Plague carrying California Ground Squirrel. They will undermine old oak trees until they topple, undermine building foundations, and cause assorted other havoc like chewing into plastic irrigation pipes. Most ranchers hate them. They attract rattlesnakes, also.

In my area these ground squirrels are one of my primary targets of choice. This summer two friends and I have shot about 200 of them on three local ranches that invite us to shoot all we can.

Their population goes in cycles. There are more every year for seven to ten years, then the plague wipes 80% of them out and the population starts increasing all over again. Right now they seem to be about at the peak of their cycle.

The Department of Fish and Game encourages shooting them but officially states "Don't touch them with your bare hands" due to the plague. There was an article in our paper recently discussing that subject.

Enjoy the rest of your visit to the fullest, and keep the great pictures coming.

Those flowers are called Naked Ladies, I have a yard full of them.

Very cool photos!! I'd like to take my kids to glass beach.

Eric

There ya go Jim...if you can ever schedule another trip out this way, do it when the sage rats, aka ground squirrels are out... like March to July, early August up here in Oregon.... longer the further south ya go...

I shoot 5 to 6000 of them on a good season when I can 'get away'... no shortages of places to shoot them... one centerfires, a slow day is a couple of hundred of them....on a busy day if one is shooting a 10/22, 1000 plus rounds down range at them is not unusual....couple of summers ago, I was at one place I went thru 1100 rounds of 22 LR out of a 10/22 in under 3 hours...had six 25 round mags... load em up.... run right thru them, stop and load them up again with one of those quick load things and go at it again....

there was more opportunity, but I had the headache from hell due to scope squint....thru a 6 power Weaver....

When I was done, there was like 15 to 20 dead seagulls and magpies out there... but I have no idea where they came from...

had to be from that guy shooting that centerfire, a couple of fields over from me...

me or a batch of other forum members I am sure could set ya up and take ya out...no shortage of opportunity if you know where to go...

Sorry....my bad

I wasn't referring to you....





and you won't have to worry about getting run over by a Bentley....


just stay off the sidewalks... you'll be fine...

Jim

When you go down to Carmel, be sure to take the "Seventeen-Mile Drive". The homes and views are incredible. Look closely and you will see Bentleys, Aston-Martins and Rolls Royces. The only BMWs and Mercedes that you will see are driven by the 16-year-old kids as their first car.