We gathered at Del Cerro Park in Rancho Palos Verdes at 9:00am, fearless leader Chris decribes the hike we're doing today ...
This is an 'upside down' hike -- that is, first we have an easy walk DOWN, then on the return we do the hard work hiking back up ...
It was a nice day, about 75-80 degrees ...
Spikey-weird ... don't know what it is ...
Our destination comes into view, the sea cave at the end of the penisula below ....
Nice view of the final descent to beach level ....
Some kayakers had arrived at the cove ahead of us ....
I've not kayaked on the ocean front yet -- a future adventure ...
Looking back the opposite direction ...
Closer view of the sea cave ...
Nearly there now ...
At the rocky area surrounding the cave, this is what the rock looked like ... very erroded sandstone composite ....
Chris and Randy hold a rope to stabilize others as they cross over the water ...
... I just waded through it ...
The tide was going out as we arrived, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see through the cave to the other side ...
At low ebb between waves, the opening was larger ...
The opposite side of the sea cave ... I couldn't get the angle needed to see through it from this side ...
This flat area surrounding the sea cave abounded with channels and tide pools ...
Nice view looking south down the coast toward San Pedro ...
As I live next to the San Gabriel Mountains, I usually hike there. This is my first coastal hike, but will not be my last ...
Starfish and a green sea anemone in one of the numerous tide pools ... we had to time our arrival for low tide, otherwise we wouldn't see these ...
I spotted this small crab (about 2 inches across) busily feeding ... he was in about 6 inches of water ...
Another slightly larger crab ... out of water, you can see his interesting red and green coloration ...
Purple and orange starfish, and bright purple sea urchins ...
The 'beaded' latice work on the starfish is interesting and the pattern unique to each individual ... the center white spot is a primitive eye that detects light ...
We moved back around to the east side of the cave and prepared to leave ....
... using the same rope trick ... Chris and Randy holding as before ...
Randy and Chris make their way over the rocks ...
An interesting spot ... I'll be back ...
While hiking past this hillside next to the beach, small sparkles caught the corner of my eye ... what is that?
Closer up, each 'bloom' is covered with small semi-transparent structures ...
Succulents are commonly called "ice plant" .... I found this: "The name of 'Ice Plant' is linked with many family members mostly as a consequence of their leaves being surfaced with salt accumulating bladder-like cells that often sparkle like ice granules to reflect sunlight and reduce transpiration." Describes this plant perfectly ....
The hillside also had a lot of this succulent ground cover, with these fuscia colored blooms ...
Nice view back at the cave ...
... and the opposite side of the cove ...
Again looking down the coast toward San Pedro ...
Palos Verdes Drive, looking south toward San Pedro ....
We saw lots of wild flowers on this hike ... this plant was everywhere, and covered with yellow blooms ... they also have an anisette fragrence if you crush the foliage.
Close up of the yellow blooms ...
Yellow daisy-like blooms and a small caterpillar ...
Lots of this too ....
... and a close up of the blooms ....
Lots of this too ...
Same stuff with a bee ...
Only specimen of this one that I saw ... small, only about 1/2 inch across ...
Talked with this guy about his horse ... a Fresian. The breed is hundreds of year old, comes from the north of Holland. Beautiful horse, massively strong ... Note the long length of his tail and braided forelock ...
A stallion, he was very alert and seemed to be listening to the clicks and beeps of my camera ...
And now after all the fun, we pay our dues with the 2 mile, 1,100 foot trudge back up to our cars ...
Final look back down at the coastline. After the hike most of us went over to Chris' for a BBQ and to see the photos of his two-day climb of 14,200 ft Mt. Shasta ...
