Thought I'd do a trip report of me and Graham's California trip to some sea caves.
April 23-25, 2010 we attended the Western Region of the NSs's Speleo-Ed event. It was held in Olmea, CA at the Point Reyes National Seashore.
Friday night after registration we watched a NOVA video on Extreme Cave Diving. I ended up knowing about half of the people in the video.
Saturday morning is devoted to the educational part of Speleo-Ed. We had sessions on California Stygobionts, like isopods, etc, Seismite Analysis in Ozark Caves (this was cool, bout earthquake damage to formations), Echolocation Analysis and Behavior of Marin County Bats, Microbiology of Anchialine Caves and Remipede Behavior, Windeler cave and the Western Conservancy, and Embodied Cognition and the European Ice Age. All that sounds very technical, but it really wasn't. Each session lasted about 30 mins.
So after a quick lunch it was time for a cave trip with Bruce Rogers of the USGS. This was the 3rd cave field trip I have done with him and he probably is one of the smartest cavers I know, although he jokes that he just makes stuff up to tell us. The trip was going to be a 7 mile round trip hike at Point Reyes to Sculptured Beach. The sea caves were very cool. We planned the walk around low tide and also the whole weekend was planned around the lowest tidal schedule. There were other field trips to choose from if you didn't want to make the long hike. They were lighthouse tours, tour of the historic lifeboat station, and a walk along the San Andreas Fault.
After the long hike it was time for dinner, proceeds going to the Western Cave Conservancy (WCC). And after a rather long business meeting (are any cave meetings ever short?) there was a Schanpps tasting to raise funds for the WCC.
Sunday morning we went on a tour called iscover the Ghosts of Point Reyes" led by local caver and park docent Frank Binney. We started at the Point Reyes visitor's center, then to the Olema Cemetery, the life saving station cemetery, and ended at the oldest cattle ranch in Point Reyes. We learned all about the history of the area and the people who were first there.
The rest of Sunday Graham and I did a little culinary trip of our own. Bought some fresh local raised grass fed beef from the butcher, some cheese fro the local creamery, ceviche from the local deli, and some fresh organic veggies and bread. We cooked a little feast back at camp. Oh and we also went to a local winery and did a wine tasting.
We had flown into San Francisco for this event, and Olema is about an hour north of the city. So we made side trips to Muir Woods to see coastal redwoods, fisherman's wharf, the golden gate bridge, and chinatown.
It was a great long weekend. If anyone has not attended a Speleo-Ed before I highly recommend it. This was my 4th year going.