18-Oct-2002 -- October 18, 2002. I was coming to San Francisco on business, so naturally I checked on nearby confluences. This one appeared interesting and accessible. I rented a car at the airport and was on my way by about 10:00 AM. I hoped to reach the spot by noon. I drove north across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin County. Soon I found myself on US Highway 1, the California Shoreline Highway. Some people I met later told me that its called Highway 1 because you only have to drive it once to find out how narrow, twisty and slow it is. I agree!
The point is located in the Point Reyes National Seashore, a park operated by the United States National Park Service. It contains several cattle and dairy farms whose existence pre-dated the park and so continue to operate today. Each farm has a sign and a name. The name is rather interesting. The first farm I passed was named Farm M, then Farm L, Farm K, etc. The confluence point is just beyond Farm A, the last one on the road to the lighthouse and land’s end.
I located the road marked "Authorized Vehicles Only" mentioned by the previous visitors. I parked and walked. It turns out that the road leads to a landfill of sorts where the operators of Farm A dump the manure that is cleaned out of the cattle feed yards. The confluence point was just a few hundred feet beyond the landfill and on a side hill. The weather was pleasant with light wind. The north view photo contains a little bit of ocean. The east view photo shows a point and some of the Farm A cattle.
I drove on to the light house area. It was another park-and-walk situation. I walked to the visitors’ center, but then decided not to walk down to the lighthouse, as the climb back up would have been equivalent to a 30-story building. I photographed the lighthouse and marked a waypoint of the spot from which the photo was taken.
The ocean geography is very favorable to aquatic wildlife. Several whale watching boats were "parked" in the waves below. I took another photo looking up the coastline and showing the confluence area. I started driving out of the park at about 2:00 PM. It was a great day!