August 5: Monterey County Partington Cove to Mile Post 23.6 ±15.7 miles
Today began with the promise of being a little cooler than yesterday: instead of a glassy sea before us, the surface was wind rippled right up to the surf line, promising cooling breezes to help us on our way. Alas, this was not to be. By 9:30 AM the first mile or so of ocean next to the land was again still and glassy. And we were hot.
Our first rest came at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where a brief detour down a trail and through a culvert under the highway took us to the beach overlook. Below us lay a nice little pocket beach. On the south end of the beach a small stream plunged from the cliff to the sands below.
The rest of the day was devoted almost solely to trodding south. By and large the shoulder of the highway was relatively wide and the traffic, in this area of sight-seeing, slow. The real show for us ranged from perhaps ½ to 3 miles offshore. All afternoon we watched as whales spouted and curled their long bodies above the seas surface. We were told that they were feeding at the line between the outer warm-water current and the inner, cooler current. Apparently krill, the whale’s food, concentrates at this current boundary line.
After we joined up again with the Melmobile and reached our campsite at Plaskett Creek, the passenger-door window jumped its track, leaving us with an unlockable vehicle. Steve Jones brought out his extensive tool kit and with Mel’s help was able to put the window apparatus back together again. We will see how permanent a fix he has achieved as the days go by.
Special thanks today to Paul Stewart, Julie Zeigler and their children, Shaylyn and Sophie, for stopping in the heat of the afternoon and giving us refreshing, cool drinks, and to Tiger for chatting with us in the morning and stopping on his way south in the afternoon and giving us his book of poetry. (Jon Breyfogle; photos by Linda Hanes)
Left: Hiking Route 1in the hot sun; Right: Waterfall in Julia P Burns State Park