Back to Big Sur

After a week in Monterey tending to things, I'm going back off the grid to the paradise known as Big Sur. I've laid the foundation to set-up internet sales of my pendants and photos via Facebook- Hanks Nature Art. You can see this page @ (https://www.facebook.com/HanksNatureArt) When I come back on-line, I plan to have enough items to open my store on etsy and will link it here and on facebook. Thanks for your support of my blog Kharma to you Hank

Big Sur Jade Festival

I'm getting excited about the upcoming 22nd annual BS Jade Fest, happening October 11th, 12th and 13th. (http://www.bigsurjadefest.com/) This will be only my 2nd jade fest, and this one is going to be different for me than the 1st. Now I'm a resident, jade hunter and wire wrapper. i know a lot of my fellow hunters and wrappers and I also anticipate seeing quite a few of the friends I have made from out of the area and folks who have bought my pendants. I haven't decided in what capacity I will be there in, whether strictly a spectator, or seller (if someone gives me a space at their booth) or maybe even doing freelance wrapping. I know that if I were to consider the latter, it will only be with blessing of the festival and vendors (no bad kharma here). Hey, maybe I will run into you there. Be sure and say hi if we do meet. If you are considering going: Camping options are probably slim, but you can check here (http://campone.com/big-sur/), or through Cal. State Parks and other camping options up in the town of Big Sur (Big Sur proper). There is also limited dispersed camping in Los Padres National Forest. Hope to see you there Hank

Henry Miller passage on Big Sur

I ran across a passage by Henry Miller that blows me away. THIS IS BIG SUR! From Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Beach, by Henry Miller "At dawn, Big Sur's majesty is almost painful to behold. That same prehistoric look, THE LOOK OF ALWAYS, Nature smiling at herself in the mirror of eternity"

Big Sur Update

I'll start by saying I'm not actually in Big Sur this week. In Monterey tending to some business. Missing Willow Creek and the energy already. Labor day weekend was actually kind of wierd. Not a large crowd until Sunday. A lot of fests and events on either end may have had something to do with it. I did meet a group of guys from Santa Barbara, San Diego and N.Dakota and hung out with them a good part of the time. Steve, Steve, Jeremy, James, Matt, I had a great time with you guys. Thanks for sharing yourselves and your time with me, and thanks for your hospitality. I love the spirit that Big Sur draws out of people. Hope to see you again soon. WHALES, WHALES AND MORE WHALES! The 3 days leading up to Labor day w/e was the most incredible experience I have had regarding whales. Hundreds of Humpback Whales showed up just off shore, feeding on schooling fish and providing the most jaw dropping display I've ever seen. It was last October's display in Santa Cruz times 100! Breaching, Tail slapping, spy glassing and Bubbling over a twelve mile stretch. From my spot at Willow Creek, I watched a pod bubble for hours on end, within a 1/4 mile of shore. Outstanding! In case you have not heard of bubbling, I'll explain. The whales submerge below the school of fish and in a circle, they spout under water in unison. The rising bubbles drives the fish into a tighter circle and then the whales surface straight up with mouths open feasting. I saw as many as five whales come straight up at the same time, looking like they were spyglassing. Then there was the tailslapping. They back themselves up so that the rear of their body is above surface and then violenty slap their tales onto the surface of the water. Over and over again. The sound is somewhat like a rifle shot and it does come up on shore. I've saved the best for last. Vocalization! The evening before I first sighted them, I started hearing strange animal noises. I just don't know how to describe it, except eerie. I ran the sound through my head...Fox? no, Sealion or seal? No. Maybe elephant seals? Not at all like the males during their jousting. The next day it added up. The vocalization was not a constant, but it was heard sporadically over the 3 day period. wikipedia states that it is believed the vocalization is related to their mating/courtship and comes only from the males. I don't know, but it sure iced the cake as being the most spectacular whale display I will probably ever witness. Thanks you whales, nature and Big Sur :). Previous to this, the other highlights of whale watching here has been the close to shore sighting of a Blue Whale (my first) and then about a month ago I saw a Humpback breaching, but half of its breaches were totally vertical and total air! It fully cleared the water. If I had not have witnessed it, I would not believe me either... On to other things...I am slowly (very slowly) developing an internet network (facebook, etsy, this blog) that will allow me to start selling my wirewrapped pendants and then my photography on-line. Since I am totally off of the grid down in Big Sur, I have to travel a minimum of 35 miles to get access. And so it will continue to be a sloooooooow moving project. All for now Kharma to all

Status update: Big Sur

Thought I would resurrect the blog and add a short note about my life today. I am now in Big Sur, working on mastering the crafts of wire wrapped jewelry and nature photography. I am pretty much living off the grid, so my posts will be limited. Gotta head out at this moment to photograph the California Condors. Be back soon...

Pebble Beach, San mateo county coast

A few miles south of Pescadero on hwy 1, or near a third of the ways from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz, this is a great little spot to stop and stretch, have a picnic and explore the beach and rock. It is not well marked and just a cul de sac pull out. There is a picnic table and a grille, a pit toilet and no water.

Once parked, you can explore the little cove with pebbles to the right, or check out the unique sculpturing of the sandstone right in front of the parking spot. With it knobs, waves and crests, the landscape looks like the moon or something. There are reefs further to the ocean, and tidepools to the south. Local fishermen like to fish off the rocks in this area too. Bluff trails lead out in either direction.

There is a geocache here, Coburn's Folly http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=efd25a26-407a-4858-a6f7-93a2fa6eff97, marking the site of a failed resort hotel. Coords to the cache are N 37° 14.290 W 122° 24.978. These coords can also be helpful in locating the pullout. There is also a plaque in the parking lot detailing the interesting history of this failure. a few other caches are within a mile radius of the beach.

Pebble Beach is actually a part of Bean Hollow SB, another worthwhile stop. I think that this stretch of the coast is some of the nicest and lesser used in this part of the state.



And now to the important stuff. It is posted NOT to remove the pebbles. And so, if you have this swag, my hope is that you do plan a visit to Pebble Beach, and that you will return these pebbles to their rightful location. Or, if you are not going to visit or have bookmarked the info, keep the swag out there

The Oregon Coast- Lincoln City, Taft, Boiler Bay to Depoe Bay

The central Oregon Coast has a lot of unique qualities that I enjoyed. Starting with Lincoln City and "The Worlds SHORTEST River". 440 feet in length, it connects Devils Lake to the Pacific Ocean. I caught it at low tide, and it hardly qualified as a creek in my book... Still, the site is a state recreation area and home to two of the worlds LARGEST kite festivals (go figure ;). There are "drive on" beaches in the general area, to add to the allure.

At the south end of town is the historic Taft district, bordering the Siletz river. I enjoyed wandering around the district, stopping in to watch some glass blowing, exploring the beaches, and grabbing a couple of unique geocaches. I had a good chuckle to myself, thinking of Morgan, as I saw her restaurant, and then a great window decal on a parked element :).

Always balancing the cons of "Boondocking" against the pros, I spent the night at Chinook Winds Casino. Some yahoo parked a few spots down was feeling no pain, and was literally howling at the full moon for the most of the night. None of us fellow campers had the nerve to confront him...cause, as far as I'm aware, nobody had any silver bullets (can't be too careful ;)! Funny thing was, he was off by one night, and there would be a (possibly rare?) lunar eclipse on the full moon, the next night (8/27/07). Never a dull moment on the road, I like to think.

After a poor nights sleep, I made my way to Boiler Bay, and then to Depoe Bay. Whales! I mean, LOTS of whales. I had not realized that Oregon had "resident" Gray whales! They do migrate south to Baja, but drop out of the northerly migration, spending the summers here. It so happened that the whale watching society had set up docents at Depoe Bay, and as I stood with them talking, several whales up within the outer bay, sometimes as close as 50 feet of the seawall! Incredible! I just had to retrieve the geocache "Yarr, there be whale" (gc11mho) which was within 100 feet of the docent's table. We (one of the docents and I) called a biologist who had a Zodiac tour going, and directed her to the closest whales within the bay. I have since lost her card, so cannot post her name or boat, but she is evidently legend around here, so wouldn't be hard to locate.. She runs a 16 or 18 foot zodiac out and encourages her groups to beat on the boat to interact with the whales when they come up (they are evidently attracted to the vibations). I had the docent ask her to schedule me on her next trip out, but it ended up that the wind kicked up and I was the only client scheduled. I had to argue with her to NOT go out with just me, since the $20 fare wouldn't even pay for her fuel. While I was at the harbor waiting for her to come in, I witnessed a harbor seal performing to a fisherman who was cleaning his catch, trying to entice him into a handout. It was hilarious to watch, the seal would roll onto its back and slap the water with its flippers, splashing up a storm and sometimes nearly clapping for the fishermans attention. The fisherman would have nothing to do with the seal though. A bit later I did see a couple of kids who had been around that were teasing it into its act with a fish carcass.

Oh, BTW, Depoe Bay is billed as the SMALLEST Harbor in the world.