Ocean Beach to Mussel Rock Park Beach
Where one can be lost in the sun, surf, waves and wind...
Last month, I wrote about how much I love it by the Ocean and had talked about how I would love to walk all the way from Ocean Beach to Pacifica along the water. Well, today, I did almost that and even though I did not get to Pacifica, I went as far as the shoreline went to.
The goal was to do my barefoot therapeutic walking along the water, sometimes on the sand and make it back home in time for a couple of commitments.
As I drove towards Ocean Beach, the fog had set in. After all these years in the Bay Area, seeing the fog roll in is not just fascinating, it makes me happy. It makes for perfect running/hiking/biking/walking weather. And so it was today. Having got there by about 8:45 a.m., parking was a non issue. It was also really sparsely populated on the stretch I walked on. Many people fishing, many dogs, almost everyone masked and everyone maintaining social distancing. For some reason today, at least half a dozen dogs came running upto me, thinking I had something for them. I have no idea why. I had my flipflops in one hand, nothing in the other they ran upto, but it might have been my orange jacket. Note to self: Next time on the beach, wear another colored layer.
Walking along the water, one spots various things in the sand and water. Today, there were many tiny crabs. This particular one was interesting because it camoflaged itself so well. See if you can spot it.
Spotted a hangglider and this large group of willets. Check out the video as well if you are interested.
Landed up walking 4.5 miles each way. The turning point, I discovered was Mussel Rock Beach. Upon reading maps after I returned home, discovered the name of the rock, that I had spotted from atop Funston Fort ten days back, Mussel Rock, known for being the spot where the San Andreas fault enters the water from land.
So upon reading up more, I found that I had crossed a few beaches: Ocean Beach, Fort Funston Beach, Philip Burton Memorial Beach, Thornton State Beach, and Mussel Park Rock Beach.
While the beaches are all labeled differently, they are very similar. Ocean beach is the most crowded because of ease of access and parking. Fort Funston and Philip Burton Memorial beaches are next crowded again, due to ease of access. Mussel Park Rock Beach had extremely few people. There was this cave which I wondered would be different when it was high tide. I did not want to get in there without closed shoes.
All in all, a very well spent morning. As I reached the end of my walk, I saw the fog lifting at the far end in the Marin Headlands. Check out the blue sliver in this video. So I still need to go back with shoes that I can wear at Mussel Rock Park for a bit on land before I can get back to the next water stretch.