Cali Coast in Winter

Twelve days into February, almost every day in the region from Monterey to Mendocino counties has been sunny and mild...crisp at night, balmy during the day. This is not too rare...it's certainly more common to have a stretch of fine weather like this in February than in July. I do a lot of hiking and exploring in such conditions. I was hiking at Point Lobos a few days ago and came upon this deer, grazing in the forest. She is obviously accustomed to humans to the point of being blase. She posed for several photos.

Cypress trees are by nature gnarly. When exposed to the wind and weather along the coast at Point Lobos, gnarliness becomes an art form.

A few days ago I ventured up north. Here's the mouth of the Russian River at Jenner. It looks like summer...the river is entering the ocean through a channel only a few feet wide. It's a little different during floods...the Russian rages into the Pacific and hundreds of yards offshore you can see a sharp boundary between muddy river water and the clear blue ocean. But there have only been a couple days of rain in the past six weeks, so the Russian is unseasonably sluggish right now.

I'm currently hanging at The Sea Ranch, one of my favorite spots. These are pebbles at...Pebble Beach...Sonoma county version, 240 road miles north of the Pebble Beach currently hosting the golf tournament.

What would a visit to The Sea Ranch be without paying a call on the sloats?? There are many here; they hang out on the rocks, soaking up the sun. These are harbor seals, so they don't make much noise.