The Red Writer: Out on the road again for a four-day foray

POINT REYES, Calif. - After more than a month of being back from my cross-country sojourn, Adm. Fox and I hitched up The Red Writer and went an hour west to the coast.
Although I have lived in California on and off since 1970, the more remote areas of Point Reyes (where you hike in, not drive!) have escaped my attention.

Morning at Samuel P. Taylor State Park

When I was a young newspaper reporter in Petaluma, I went out many Friday nights to cover football games in tiny Tomales where the fog would blow in so heavy sometimes you couldn't see the game from the stands.
It made the passing game even more challenging for the high school players.
Our first stop was Samuel P. Taylor State Park, the campground of which is full of huge old-growth Redwoods and many other trees. The sun barely breaks through the canopy even at mid-day, making the park a pretty chilly place.
Oh! And you are well off the grid there, too, though cell phones work, sort of.
From other visits to Marin County with her amigas, Adm. Fox knew that the hiking around the area was amazing, with trails all over. She was right.
I logged between 6 and 9 miles each day on my hiking boots. The terrain ranged from dense woodland to ocean beaches.

A few of the elk at Pt. Reyes

Out on Point Reyes, the fog I remembered came in hard late one afternoon. We stopped to watch elk wander the hillsides.
Adm. Fox caught the best photos - like the one to the right.
But after trying to capture these magnificent animals with an iPhone, I vowed to carry our Canon SLR with the long lenses - even though carrying it is like toting a brick.
The last day before we headed home to Point Richmond, we moved The Red Writer from the state park to a private campground in Olema that had electricity, hot showers, internet and best of all - some sun.
It's only about 2 miles from the tiny village of Point Reyes Station where among other delightful places there is a bakery that serves some amazing goods.

With Sallie Dewitt and Rita Gardner in Pt. Reyes Station

If the weather holds, The Red Writer will head out again soon, perhaps to Point Reyes for a return visit, or up into the Sonoma Valley to Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park - the first state park I camped in in California in 1970 when I arrived.
And the weather might hold.
It is California, after all.