In HMB: the Coastal Trail

December 3, 2023

The WiFi isn’t the best in our room this morning so we head downstairs to the common area to fill the time until Moonside Bakery & Cafe opens at eight. While we’re sitting there I see an unusual bird splashing around in the birdbath outside the window. I didn’t bring my camera down and Rachael’s phone’s zoom isn’t quite sufficient so I rush up to the room to get the Lumix. Fortunately he’s still there splashing away when I get back and I get a shot off before he disappears.

Afterwards we walk a few blocks over to Moonstone, one of the two choices we have for breakfast. It’s a real winner, serving up a more robust breakfast than we usually expect at these places where the 2nd B of our B&B has been contracted out to the nearest cafe or bar. Rachael enjoys a veggie scramble, I have eggs over medium, hash browns and toast with my coffee, and then after Rachael heads back to the room on her own I hang around long enough to finish yesterday’s post.

A California towhee. After about a half hour of futile research I finally downloaded the Merlin app and its photo matching feature soon resolved the mystery.

A mural we liked on our way to breakfast.

We have Kathleen to thank for today’s ride. Before she alerted me to the fact that there’s a gannet that winters here Rachael and I had been planning a south and into the hills. A gannet though! That’s really unheard of on the Pacific Coast, except for this one bird. Gannets are a magnificent bird, one which we were lucky enough to see in abundance at Flamborough on the English summer last year. In case you aren’t familiar with the bird, here’s a shot from last year’s tour:

The gannet is definitely not a bird I imagined might make onto this year’s list, so of course we have to go. According to Kathleen he’s been hanging out with the Brandt’s cormorants on his favorite rock just off the pier at the small El Granada marina for the last eight or nine winters, so we start our outing by riding there along the Coastal Trail. It’s only a few flat, easy miles and won’t take long, once we get started.

But we don’t get started all that quickly because this is the first time we’ve been on the bikes since hitting the road and the first time Rachael’s been on hers since Spain. We have to get the routine down, so first there’s a trip to the nearest LBS (fortunately only two blocks away) to get a new water bottle to replace one that’s just too gross for reuse. And then there are a few trips back up to the room for things we forgot to bring down. And then we have to adjust the tilt on the GoPro mount, and then adjust the tilt on Rachael’s handlebars since the bike hasn’t been fitted to her since coming out of the suitcase; and then of course we have to readjust the GoPro mount after tilting the handlebars has thrown it off.

And so now we’re off, or almost. First, we need to swing by the LBS again because somehow the spare tube for Rachael’s bike didn’t make the packing list when we left Portland. And after that’s been purchased and stowed we get a whole two blocks down the road before we need to stop again because Rachael’s saddle height needs adjustment too.

Now, let’s go.

It’s a gorgeous, warm day as we bike the very pleasant Coastal Trail between here and El Granada. It’s not a particularly fast ride though because there are folks and critters to be avoided and views to be admired. After six weeks out of the saddle Rachael’s itching to ride though so toward the end she bikes off while I stop for another shot.

I’m done with the camera for the moment and chasing down Rachael when I hear my name shouted at me from behind my back - a surprise because it sort of sounds like Rachael, but I thought she was up ahead. It’s Kathleen and BJ! They’re on the same mission I’m on, heading down to the marina to check in on the gannet. We have a warm but short greeting (we’ll be getting together for a real visit tomorrow), and then I hurry off to find Rachael and hopefully that gannet. I don’t get but a few yards when Rachael shows up coming back my way so I point back behind at Kathleen and BJ and then keep going, almost forgetting until it’s too late to stop and take a photo of them. I did, but you can get a closer look if you watch the day’s video.

Video sound track: Bolero Sonambulo, by Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban

So that’s serendipitous. The gannet’s a no show though, a major disappointment but one that doesn’t ruin an otherwise fine morning. We love being far enough south that it’s dry and comfortably warm, and out on the bikes again. This migratory lifestyle definitely works well for us. And we love Half Moon Bay, we’re finding. It’s the first community we’ve stayed in for awhile where we could imagine settling some day. It’s no wonder BJ and Kathleen are so happy here.

I love this old rusty carcass. The Western Flyer! Isn’t that the classic little red wagon?

No gannet today darn it, but this is very nice.

I’ve probably been poking along too much with the camera, because as we ride back south again Rachael suggests that maybe she’d like to stop off at the room, use the facilities and recover from her long 12 mile ride, and then take a walk up into the hills on one of the trails Kathleen said are around. We split when we reach town, and I continue on south on the Coastal Trail, thinking I’ll just continue south to take the climb up Purisma or Tunitas Creek I’d been planning on.

When I come to the end of the paved trail though I decide to just continue along it and test out the surface for a ways. The further I get, the better I like it as I follow a narrow dirt path that skirts the edge of the crumbling cliff. It takes some attention, as there’s obviously a lot of active erosion occurring where blocks of this elevated bench have broken away and tumbled toward the sea fifty or more feet below. I don’t want to tumble down with them and risk bending a rotor or cracking a skull, so it’s pretty slow going. Beautiful though, as I skirt the edge of a large flat meadow blanketed in coyote brush and cypress.

Later, back at the room Rachael and I compare notes on our day and I’m surprised to see that she was out here herself on her walk. If I’d backtracked the way I came I’d probably have met up with her out here. The photos below of the next few miles are a mix, but mostly hers.

On the last paved stretch of the Coastal Trail, south of Half Moon Bay.

It’s important to not get too distracted by the dramatic views.

Somewhere along here Rachael will have turned back, but I continue on - through a private golf course where access is granted for walkers and bikers as long as they stay on the designated path, which we share with the occasional golf cart. Then it’s back on the open bench, following a narrow strip bounded by the crumbling cliffs on one side and a large fenced pasture on the other. And actually I’m not sure it’s OK to even be here because there’s a private property sign marked for no access without permission; but a couple of other walkers are here and one says it’s OK to continue and I can get back to the highway on the other side, so I continue on.

There’s a frustrating moment when I’m watching the trail and the cliffs and suddenly a barred-tailed raptor flushes right in front of me and immediately disappears into the trees. Rats. If I’d been paying attention, he was likely perched on one of the fence posts lining the trail. So I do start watching the fence line hoping for a second chance and eventually one comes - a Cooper’s hawk.

Unfenced birds: a pair of snow geese mingling with the Canadians.

I pass the road that will connect me back to the coast highway and keep going, but eventually I come to a sign that makes me think I’d better turn back while I still can. Once on the highway, it’s an easy ride north to town on a good shoulder the whole way. I’d wondered about this road, but it seems perfectly fine. We’ll have to come back again some day and give Tunitas Creek a try next time. Or Purisma Creek. Or Higgins Canyon, if they ever finish repairing the washouts that have it closed now.

Or just come back and repeat today’s fine ride. Lots of choices here. Half Moon Bay feels like a seductive, Siren-like place where it would be easy to get your foot caught in the door and stay awhile.

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Today's ride: 21 miles (34 km)
Total: 58 miles (93 km)

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Kathleen JonesI’d know that bike jersey anywhere. And I did. Great fun to run into you two. And I’m glad you got to do the unofficial extension of the coastal trail through Cowell Ranch.
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11 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Kathleen JonesIf I’d thought of it, I should have worn Greg’s Caribou Coffee jersey just to throw you off. And I really should have worn it for Greg’s benefit - he’d have appreciated the third degree of separation connection.
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11 months ago