Picture of the Day - Fire & Water

Today I had a modified Kim Day in which I took the day off but in this case I did not go solo but joined the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on a business roadtrip to Santa Barbara with lunch at Harry's, book browsing at Chaucer's, and then a visit to the Gaviota Coast on the way home to hunt petrified whale bone. We took Highway 154 down in order to get to our destination quicker as well as to see the aftermath of last summer's Whittier Fire (which was not fully controlled until earlier this winter), an aftermath I had not heretofore seen with mine own eyes and it was eye-opening. Dangerous weather with the potential for flashflooding and mudslides is predicted for the overnight period into tomorrow. We were chased off of Gaviota Beach at Gaviota State Park late this afternoon by the first major rain bands of this strong Pacific Storm whose circulation will pass over the Central Coast overnight into tomorrow. Above is the view along Highway 154 looking eastward across the burn scar with ominous skies clabbering up and lowering. The long story of modern California history is that of wildfire followed by flashfloods and mudslides. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

June 2017 Kim Day

Today, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen convened for a "Kim Day", a day in which I get out of my cage quite intentionally and don't answer the phone really or make any commitments aside from doing my own thing to decompress and perhaps invite some friends along to partake in my geeky revelry.

This Kim Day took me and my mates to Van Gordon Creek behind San Simeon State Park for some rockhounding in the creek for whatever we could find of interest that is eroding out of a Chumash trash midden located further up the creek to which point we have never found. We did find some over-sized abalone shells of size and thickness rarely found alive in modern times but common during the pre-contact period.

Our next stop was to visit San Simeon Point by way of William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach.

Two of our crew had never before been out to this magical place. We wanted them to experience it and to again experience it ourselves, those of us in the group who had been to this place before.

We all had better visit this place now before the Hearst Corporation executes its approved development of this magical place sometime in the not-too-distant future.

In my judgement, there are few places on Earth more magical to nearly a mystical order of magnitude than this San Simeon Point. I dread what is going to happen here in development.

San Simeon Cove always looks so rather tropical due to the sublime coloration of the ocean here.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Another Kim Day At San Simeon

Today I needed another break from everything going on in my life. I had the privilege of sharing this second Kim Day of the year to date fellow members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Unlike last month's excursion which ended up at San Simeon Creek Inlet after visiting other localities down the coast, today we solely visited San Simeon Creek Inlet. A strong Pacific storm had just gone through and churned up the beach, making beach-combing and rockhounding much more productive. What follows is my report in pictures.

Dennis the Menace

I found this brecciated jasper with chalcedony and quartz banding cobble.

Rockin' Ron and the E-man.

Brecciated Jasper with quartz and a small quartz crystal-lined cavity partly sanded down by wave action on the beach.

Highway One bridge

Sea Gulls pre-disturbance

Sea Gulls disturbed

This is probably a Hearst Ranch cow (#51) who ended up in a creek during the last storm and got swept out to sea and drowned during the last storm. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

My Toro-Villa-San Simeon Creeks Kim Day

Today I needed a Kim Day and so I took one with some special friends and their family, fellow members of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman and some of their family. An awesome day was had by all and I got out of my cage and finally got to rockhound, and at the beach after phenomenal recent storms, no less! We started at Toro Creek Inlet at what I have always called Hole-in-the-Wall Beach which is owned by a petroleum company and not state parks so it is a popular dog beach. Our middle adventure was at Toro Creek Inlet and adjacent beaches. Our last stop was my beloved San Simeon Creek Inlet which adjacent beach I consider to be "my beach." Cool stones were found by everybody and we topped the day off with some grub from Main Street Grill in Cambria. I even got to have my Natter-Nutty Smoothie from Sandy's Deli across the street, a concoction I have chistened "sex in a cup." My buddy Ron disagrees and likens it to "foreplay in a cup." Apparently, he has experienced better sex than I have. Whatever.

Beach at Toro Creek Inlet with Morro Rock in the background.

Exploring Toro Creek may reveal fresh agates and biconoid material or even the occasional Chumash arrowhead.

Villa Creek Inlet with abalone farm on the coastal hill in the distance.

Ron and his son find a small gravel bar formed in front of a seaweed plant that washed up in the recent storm.

This is mid-January on the Central Coast. Guess why I live here? That is Point Buchon in the distance.

This is very similar to another image I posted a few images up but I can't resist including it as it is so idyllic a scene.

San Simeon Creek recently blew out the summertime sandbar as a result of the recent Pacific storms. It was pushing directly out into the ocean sans any major right turns up the beach as it will do later as the creek seasonally reduces flow amount and the ocean starts pushing back at the creek and damming it up with sand and gravel during the dry season.

This is the best kind of gravel in which to rockhound and beachcomb at this beach: right after major rains and storm waves have moved substantial volumes of material about the beach and down the creek from the Santa Lucia Mountains from whence the material originates.

This was one of the prettier stones (brecciated jasper with quartz fill) I saw all day and it was fairlyi large (6"x5"x4") this is as I found it having not yet picked it up when I shot this image. The stone was donated to the driver of our expedition.

To our amazement, five C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets of the United States Air Force ambled by way too close to the beach to be legal. We didn't mind as it was exciting to see them as they headed down to Vandenberg AFB en route from probably Travis AFB.

A wave surge enters the lagoon created at San Simeon Creek inlet by the ocean trying to wall off the creek with sand and gravel as it will eventually succeed in doing this spring as with every year.

This view is up the beach looking towards the bird rookery (sea stack in the distance).
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).