Our first backpacking trip was in Point Reyes National Seashore along the coast north of San Francisco, California.
The centerpiece of this National Park Service unit is the historic
Point Reyes Lighthouse, constructed at the very end of the point stretching about 10 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. Once a month from spring to fall, the park
leads visitors on hikes to light the historic lighthouse. It was also on our first time out to see the lighthouse that we saw a gray whale for the first time. It was in the surf approaching Point Reyes Beach in water shallow enough that we could see the entire animal.
The lighthouse was first operated in 1870, and was built after a level spot was blasted with dynamite, about 300 feet from the top of the cliff. It uses a rotating Fresnel lens that concentrated the center light source into 24 beams such that someone in a ship off-shore would see a flash every 5 seconds. Each lighthouse has its own distinct flash pattern, so a ship's captain would be able to identify which lighthouse he's seeing.
Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.
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