A Giant day that confirms we love the life we are living.....
Day 252
11-14-2006
Started: Golden Gate Bridge, CA
Finished: Wildcat Beach, CA
Today's Miles: 35.8
Total Miles: 4117.9
Have you every lived a day that reminded you, or reassured you, that you really like the way you're living your life? Seems like a simple enough question, but for some reason we seem to believe that there are too few people in this world who have asked that question of themselves, and more importantly, probably even fewer have found that their answer to the question was anything close to a YES! We feel like the day we lived today was set up from the very beginning to help us determine our answer to that very question, and as we sit in our tent tonight with our feet hanging out of the doorway over the edge of the tall cliffs that rise high above the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean we could scream out a definitive "YES". We say we "could" scream out "YES", and the "YES" part of answering any questions about liking the way we have been living our lives is screaming inside of us, but as secluded as we are tonight, literally hanging on the edge of a cliff above the extremely remote Wildcat Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore, we are absolutely positive nobody would ever hear our screams. In so many ways, and for so many reasons, that is extremely appropriate. The YES that we feel screaming inside of both of us is the important YES, and the question is designed to evaluate how truly happy you are not how happy you can make other people think you are. Well, we suppose we could go on and on about the value of truly being happy, the benefit of evaluating your happiness and the difference between the way people feel about their own happiness and the way they want others to feel about their happiness, but the point of our original question was to tell everyone about an amazing day of hiking that allowed us to internally scream "YES" because it was a hiking day that would reassure any hiker that they are absolutely loving life! This morning's hike started in the Marin Headlands at the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge, and as we now know the "giant" bridge that crosses the mouth of the San Francisco Bay where it outlets into the Pacific Ocean was only the first "giant" that we would encounter today. When we started at the bridge this morning we knew we had less then fifty miles until we would reach the beach at Limantour Beach where we had planned to touch the Pacific Ocean and complete our goal of walking from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Knowing that the Pacific Ocean was literally right there on the west side of the Golden Gate Bridge and deciding to walk for two more days until we touched it is a big part of the "YES" that we feel, reassuring us that we love living this life and we are in no hurry to "get it over with". After crossing the parking area on the north side of the bridge we reached a trailhead and followed a narrow footpath up the hillside in Golden Gate National Park toward a ridge where we had amazing views of the Bridge, the Ocean, the Bay, Sausalito, the San Francisco skyline, Alcatraz, Angel Island, ferries making their way to Oakland and so much more of the beautiful Bay area. We snaked along the hillsides of the ridgeline finding ourselves gazing off into the distance trying to take in everything our eyes could see in every direction as we climbed switchbacks and hiked the rolling landscape to the top of the ridge. We dropped down to and crossed the scenic Pacific Coast Highway and continued to the north toward the famous Muir Woods. We had an added bonus to today's walk just outside the Muir Woods National Monument when Maw and Pop Propster and Mom and Dad Natoli joined us for some hiking in Mount Tamalpais State Park. Sharing some of our most beautiful terrain is only the beginning of the many ways we need to thank our families for providing the most incredible support system and "home-base" team that has enabled us to take on this amazing Journey. We walked and talked and after huffing and puffing up some steep terrain we found ourselves literally walking amongst the "giants". It's amazing how small and young and possibly even insignificant you can feel when hiking below the 250 feet tall and 1000 year old California Redwoods. The "giant" trees have seen life come and go, they've seen fires and earthquakes, they've resisted heavy rains and powerful winds and in their presence you can't help but to be in complete awe of their size and beauty. Our day of "giants" treated us to an unbelievable surprise when the forest opened up and a clearing gave us a fantastic view of the summit of Mount Tamalpais and the "giant" vastness of shimmering blue water in the Pacific Ocean. As we stared out over the open Ocean we couldn't believe our eyes, and we are still amazed at what we saw, but our hike was elevated to a day we will never forget when just below us a short distance offshore the sun glistened water broke and rising to the surface right before our fascinated faces was a Pod of Whales! We counted at least ten of the enormous, and somehow still incredibly graceful, ocean "giants" as they put on a slow dance for us. Our hillside view enabled us to see them from high above the water which allowed us to get a birds eye view of the "giant" creatures. We had a great opportunity to interpret the massive scale of the Whales when a distant boat spotted the "giants" and approached to do some whale watching. The multi passenger craft looked tiny in comparison, as if it would fit in a bathtub, when in the presence of the awesome, massive mammals. After watching the gentle "giants" for a while we continued our hike back into and through the "giant" redwood forests to the Pan Toll Ranger Station. We hung out with family and enjoyed being treated to another wildlife sighting as two wild turkeys walked their funky walk through an open field we were resting beside. After a short rest we said goodbye to our hiking partners and Maw and Pop Propster took off for the airport to pick up Lynn and Dad Wiest. Mom and Dad Natoli planned to meet us late in the day with some food and enough water to get us through until we reach Limantour Beach tomorrow for an Oceanside celebration at the completion of a successfully Ocean to Ocean hike. Between Pan Tolls and the Trail's crossing of the PCH where we planned to see Mom and Dad Natoli we had absolutely amazing ridgeline hiking that allowed us to gaze out over the Pacific Ocean while working our way to the North toward Point Reyes. While grooving along the Ocean side of the ridge we had an awesome eye to eye moment with a thrill seeker who went floating by just over our heads. The refreshing onshore breeze that had been keeping us from breaking a sweat had been providing the thrill seeker the needed air currents to fly his "giant" glider just above the trees as he worked his way along the coast playing amongst the birds. We were quite jealous of the way he peacefully and gracefully floated with a birds eye view of the beautiful National Seashore. We surrendered our Ocean views at the top of the ridge and tucked back under the cover of tall trees as we worked our way toward the road crossing on the Pacific Coast Highway where Mom and Dad Natoli were waiting for us with food and water. We tried to pay close attention to the earth below our feet because we knew that any strange vibrations could be coming from the "giant" fault line we were hiking across. We were literally standing on the San Andreas Earthquake Fault Zone. We didn't reach the PCH until almost 5:00 p.m. and we still planned on hiking another nine miles so we knew that we would be doing some night hiking with our headlamps if we were going to make it to Wildcat Beach tonight. We knew that going from the Golden Gate Bridge to Wildcat Beach would make for "giant" miles, somewhere around 35.8 miles, but we also knew that we really wanted to spend our Journey's last night on the secluded cliffs that overlooked the Pacific Ocean where we could have a quiet night to enjoy being together and take time to soak in the last nine months of adventure while watching the waves of the Pacific Ocean crash on the cliffs below us. Just before the sun went down over the ocean we were treated to one last wildlife sighting. We almost couldn't believe our eyes, and if we hadn't been so close to the beautiful creature we might still be second guessing what we saw. Randy's first reaction was one of misbelief and he even thought for a moment that he had seen a mystical creature saying, "I think we just saw a Unicorn!" What we had actually been treated with was a face to face moment with a pristine white Buck! The white coat was so bright and pure that it appeared to glow, even the tall rack was a light color and the awesome creature truly had a magical look to it. We stood in a frozen moment until the amazing animal ran off into the trees. It wasn't long after our unbelievable Buck encounter that we found ourselves in the eerie darkness of the coastal forest. Sheri isn't the biggest fan of night hiking and the numerous green eyes that reflected the light of our headlamps didn't help ease her nerves. Randy assured her they were just Deer, but when we ran into a skunk that forced us to quickly backtrack he lost a little credibility. We only saw one nearby set of eyes that Randy wasn't to sure about, their low profile, the narrow gap between them, and an almost intelligent glare even made Randy a bit uneasy. We hiked until almost 8:00 p.m. and there was probably never even a ten second long period in which we weren't talking. Randy would have told you it was because we had so many amazing moments on this Journey worth talking about, but Sheri would probably more realistically tell you it was because she refused to allow our presence in the dark wilderness to be unannounced as we made our way toward Wildcat Beach. If we even got close to a ten second silence Sheri would start clicking her hiking poles together, making sure the local wildlife had plenty of time to clear off the trail ahead of us. The night hike turned out to be worth ever single step! When we turned the last corner and the trail widened as it entered into an open field we both stopped in our tracks, surprised by an extremely loud crashing sound. Our pause and confused looks quickly changed to an urgent rush with childlike happiness when we realized the crash was the sound of Pacific Ocean waves slamming into the devoted beach. Randy took the overwhelming moment and seized an opportunity to make the long awaited meeting with the Pacific a romantic experience. He recited a poem he has enjoyed as long as he can remember and assured Sheri that he only knew of one Devotion greater than that of the Shore to the Ocean, and that that Devotion was in his Heart, and felt for Sheri. The poem reads: "The Heart can Think of No Devotion Greater than that of the Shore to the Ocean, Holding the Curve of One Position Counting an Endless Repetition." Randy remembers reading the poem for the first time in Elementary School and the book he read it in had it listed as "Author Unknown". It has always been Randy's favorite and believe it or not today was the first time he has recited it to Sheri. It truly is a wonderful feeling to spend every second of every day together and still have new, exciting and fresh moments to share with each other. We rushed across the open field and luckily realized just where we were, and not a moment to soon, because as the grass turned to dirt we found ourselves literally on the edge! The earth at our toes had disappeared and one more step would have been a long way down. We were standing on a cliff that dropped about thirty feet straight down to the sand of Wildcat Beach where the powerful Pacific Ocean waves were crashing on the Devoted Shore. We were drawn to the Ocean like a magnet and didn't want to set back toward the east so we set up our tent right on the edge allowing us to sit in the doorway with our feet hanging over the Ocean below us. It might just be our favorite tentsite of the entire Journey! What an amazing place to sit and reflect on an unbelievable adventure! The incredible sounds of crashing waves, the glow of the star filled sky, the cool ocean breeze in our hair, the slow moving lights of passing ships in the distance, our feet hanging over the last strip of land between us and the Ocean! We might be dreaming! If it is a dream we don't want to wake up, and if it's not a dream we must be two of the luckiest people on earth! We don't want this "giant" day to come to an end and as we soak in every emotion we can't help but to hear our internal screams, screaming resounding YES's as we confidently answer our own questions about loving the life we are living. Tonight, while we look forward to tomorrow, celebrating an amazing adventure with family and friends, taking a dip in the cool Ocean waters and putting the finishing touches on achieving a Dream, we want time to stop! If we could stay right here right now together forever we would, we truly wish this moment could last forever!
Your Friends on the ADT,
Randy and Sheri
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