The Sea Ranch
hiking
Rainy March
Driving on a carpet of electrons we glided from Oakland to The Sea Ranch on the magnificent California Northern Coast.
The skies were filled with rain, rain that’s been falling for weeks now. this weather has flooded the paddocks, fields, pastures, and spilled out over the roads. As we sashayed on electromagnetic waves of motion, water covered roads caused a few detours winding up highway 1, but it did not stop us. However, the up side is, all this rain has turned Northern California’s normal hues of beige to beautiful and lush iridescent greens.
The Sea Ranch
The Sea Ranch is a planned unincorporated community located in Sonoma County, California. It is a popular vacation spot. Interestingly, the community's development played a role in the establishment of the California Coastal Commission. Buildings at The Sea Ranch have direct access to the coast and sometimes even block public access. It was this that caused California to regulate beach access in the state.
Our apartment at The Sea Ranch was luxurious and perhaps even lavish. We shared the cost of this well-appointed studio with our friends Maeve and Eamon. We also shared some great food and company. Although my views on American culture were not shared by Eamon, we did discuss them and were able to resist overly heated disagreement; we did agree, to disagree.
The hike
Our luck was amazing as the rain stopped for two days, just enough time for us to explore this wonderful place.
Maeve and Eamon, Julia and I all enjoy hiking. And so, we hiked the rugged Northern California coast from our accommodation to the Sea Ranch Lodge. Because of all the rain many waterfalls cascaded down the sandstone cliffs to, at times, the not so blue Pacific Ocean.
Here we turned inland and climbed up on to the ridgeline traversing the highly treed forests of Redwood trees.
What a lovely place and what a great time we had.