The primary report of large sunfish stays on a Level Reyes seashore emerged through Instagram, the place a neighborhood Marin feed posted the image. Information shops picked up the story, increasing it to clarify that the 6-foot animal with its deceptively nonhydrodynamic-looking form was not simply your common mola mola sunfish however as a substitute was a uncommon mola tecta, or hoodwinker sunfish.
The stays have been found by a surfer, and after one of many tales recognized the situation as Kehoe Seaside, my intrepid companions within the open air and I made a decision that Kehoe could be the vacation spot for our common Sunday outdoorsing. We knew there was an opportunity that our mola quest would show fishless, however the climate was wet, foggy and funky — in different phrases, good for a hike alongside the Pacific coast.
This 0.6-mile path resulting in that nice ocean provided a couple of quirks, certainly one of which was a daylight sighting of a skunk foraging in a close-by tangle of shrubs. One other is that this path is the one one within the Level Reyes Nationwide Seashore the place canine are permitted. Primarily based on paw-print proof within the sands and an encounter with one jubilant black lab on the seashore, locals make the most of this opening. Canine are to be leashed always, which the jubilant black lab was not. His proprietor had left his personal pants hanging over some driftwood, so these two have been feeling fairly free about guidelines.
The path from street to seashore passes via the homeland of the Coastal Miwok folks, the primary arrivals to the realm, the place they resided for hundreds of years. The seashore doesn’t bear a reputation associated to the Indigenous folks, nonetheless, however as a substitute is known as after a ranching household that also runs a dairy within the space. What you’ll discover there goes again a lot additional than people, although.
After taking the flat, straightforward path, which turns to free sand simply earlier than reaching the seashore, we opted to move north first, having no thought the place the sunfish had washed up. Simply at this turning is the Monterey Formation, layers of stacked rock fashioned from the silica stays of plankton that died tens of millions of years in the past. This uncovered little bit of the formation is placing, however what we discovered as we journeyed northward up the seashore was much more beautiful. Towering over the seashore are cliffs of laird sandstone, the place the sculpting of wind, sand and water has left deep impressions, a few of them nearly caverns, and carved lichen-like rock frescoes alongside the sides.
After a mile or so on this course, we may go no additional because of the mixed obstacles of excessive tide and a rock outcropping, so we rotated with out spying the sunfish. We did see, nonetheless, what we took to be a nonbreeding ring-billed gull grownup, a stunning trio of marbled godwits and whales. After observing an aggregation of seabirds chaotically swarming over the water on the horizon, we suspected whales is perhaps close to, and certain sufficient, our affected person statement was rewarded with a number of spouts.
Taking our quest within the different course, we retraced our footsteps after which went over a mile previous the intersection with the path. In the course of the snowy plover nesting season, from March to September, this a part of Kehoe is closed to canine, however canine had clearly been having fun with it on this wet Sunday, together with our still-present, overly keen black lab pal. The plovers have been there, too, a few dozen that we may spot, together with one whale vertebra, and the only different human (companion to the canine), whose pants had gotten separated from him. However no mola tecta.
Maybe we didn’t go far sufficient in one of many instructions. Maybe the stays had been returned to the ocean from whence they got here. We brooked our disappointment fairly simply, given {that a} spontaneous mola-seeking journey had advanced right into a gloriously chilly, wet seashore hike, full with whales and snowy plovers. Nevertheless it wasn’t over but. As we left Kehoe behind simply earlier than sundown and approached the roadside parking, a great-horned owl maintaining overwatch apprised us vocally of its presence. We (people and owl) stared at one another for a very long time within the waning mild earlier than we parted methods.
• Getting there: Take Sir Frances Drake Boulevard into the Level Reyes space. Simply previous Inverness, go proper onto Pierce Level Street on the fork, towards the Tomales Bay State Park space. Proceed on this street till you move the Abbotts Lagoon Trailhead parking on the left. Simply past that’s the discreet trailhead for Kehoe Seaside, additionally on the left. There may be roadside parking solely and a pit rest room on the entrance.
Emily Willingham is a Marin science journalist, ebook creator and biologist. You could find her on Bluesky @ejwillingham or Instagram at emily.willingham.phd.