Devil's Slide

Hwy 1 used to run along Devil's Slide. Cars routinely fell off the highway, plunging 1,000 feet to the ocean below. The road itself routinely slipped off and had to be rebuilt. So finally, a couple of years ago, the  highway was moved inland a mile, routed thru a new tunnel under Montara Mountain, and the old route has become a wonderful little park and hiking trail.

The highway followed this path because the old railroad ran here 100 years ago. The railroad kept falling into the ocean. In over 30 years of attempted operation, the railroad was only open one time for a full year without sliding into the sea. So the railroad was shutdown and the highway opened. They were surprised when the highway also kept falling off the crumbly side walls of this cliff.

And a couple hundred years before that, a lost Spanish expedition was stymied by the Slide and before they turned back, they sent a scouting party to the top of the nearby ridge. The  scouting party was the first Europeans to see San Francisco Bay and were duly impressed, reporting it as a wonderful harbor. The Spanish were always looking for good harbors on the west coast, so naturally they immediately ignored the reports for 50 years before they finally settled the Bay Area.

After years of white-knuckled drives across the Slide, we finally got to enjoy a leisurely walk, with the great views, a bit of wildlife and rocks to see. We like rocks more than most people.

I'll start with a picture of a falcon, cause it probably will fit onto the page here:

We spotted the falcon at the top of this outcropping, which itself is kind of pretty. You can sort of kind of see the falcon at the top center.

But these are the pictures you want to see. A view northwards past Pedro Point with Point Reyes in the distance. 

And looking pretty much straight down at guano covered rocks. If you look closely and have really good eyes and perhaps an imagination, you can see birds roosting atop the largest rock.

Ah, the vast ocean and a small sailboat. Tranquility (as long as you aren't the one sailing the boat).

A pod of dolphins passed by below. Two pics, the second just a closer view of the first so you can see that indeed these are dolphins and not, for example, porpoise.

I'll finish up with a few rocks. If you have any interest in geology, this is a nice place to visit ... but I'll leave the geology pics out.

This is another outcropping.

A rock with interesting fan shaped features.

And calcite deposited atop what I think it Montara granite, but I'm not very good at rock identification, so it's probably something else altogether. I just like the colors and textures.

Thanks for checking this out. I hope you get a chance to visit Devil's Slide someday (make sure it's not a foggy day, tho).