Torrey Pines

Our instructor, Charles Harrison, somehow arranged a perfect day for our trip to Torrey Pines, even going to far as to have a low tide at our lunch hour so that we could walk back directly along the beach. What a guy! I was amazed. Just look at this sky....

This was probably the high point (literally) of our hike, and I couldn't resist this shot of Charlie and my classmates up on this knob. That's Charlie over on the far left.

On the way down, I came across this rock with lichens growing on it.

And I was not kidding about the tides. Below is a photo of where we had lunch. The rocks on which we sat were wet at high tide, as evidenced by the pool of seawater at the bottom of the photo. But we were lucky (thanks to Charlie's intervention) that we had a nice, dry place to sit, eat, talk, and look for seashells. It was fabulous.

The photos below show the absolutely terrifying trail we came down - that is, those of us who are afraid of heights were terrified. However, we bravely proceeded because it was worth the adrenaline rush. The photo on the left shows the trail from above, the one on the right is from below.

Photo borrowed from Jeff Hohman

And if you have any doubt that I actually made the trip down this hair-raising trail, here is photographic proof:

Photo borrowed from Jeff Hohman

Torrey Pines is a fantastic place. It was crowded, due to it being the weekend and a beautiful day, and conveniently located to San Diego and Orange County urban areas. I will try to get out there on a weekday next time.