Garrapata State Park, Monterey County, CA, 5/25/2006
After photographing the Carmel Mission this beautiful spring day, a friend and I drove south along Cabrillo Highway (CA 1), and stopped when we saw this coastal splendor. Garrapata State Park is at the northern end of the rugged Big Sur coast of California, three miles south of Point Lobos State Reserve. I immediately appreciated the perfect late-afternoon lighting and beautiful clouds, climbed down the cliffs for a better view, and made this photograph with my new wooden field camera. In the foreground is coastal scrub including mock heather or goldenbush (Ericameria ericoides), California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), and ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis). In the ocean water kelp beds float among the outcroppings and surf. The distant promontory is Soberanes Point, featuring a green 290 foot tall rolling hill called Whale Peak; in January Pacific gray whales pass by during their yearly migration. To the left are the headlands of the Santa Lucia mountain range.
