January 3

Tuesday, for our first “wandering” of the new year, Remi, my wife and I hiked on the Blufftop Trail in the Palos Verdes Shoreline Preserve, 30 miles southwest of Los Angeles, CA. The early morning weather was party cloudy with a temperature of 52 degrees and no wind. We left the parking lot and followed a muddy trail north on a steep bluff above the Pacific Ocean where seaward, I noticed a Lodgepole pine tree near the precipice while inland, a Raven stood in a grassy field, greened up by winter rains. Far below offshore, I watched a few Pelicans and Cormorants searching the water for food. After stopping to watch a well-camouflaged Western Gray Squirrel, I continued north where I was surprised to participate in a stare down with a magnificent, perching Red-tailed Hawk. Other than a few pine trees, most of the woody vegetation along the trail consisted of a hardy shrub called Lemonade Berry while most of the groundcover was Pennywort. Near the terminus, I paused to observe a perching Say's Phoebe. Turning around, I retraced my steps south where I took notice of the beige colored outcrop that turned out to be a sedimentary rock called Valmonte Diatomite. This rock is composed mainly of silicate skeletons of a very common type of marine plankton called diatoms which are tiny plants that float near the ocean surface. The Palos Verdes Peninsula is part of an extensive submarine terrace of the inner California Continental Borderland where Middle Miocene and younger strata rest uncomfortably on a tectonically disrupted basement of Mesozoic Catalina Schist. Finally, I paused once more to scan the western vista before finding the car and heading back to our winter rental in Redondo Beach.

Out over the ocean, and it’s waves it lay,
A magnificent orange sphere, as it drops to the sea,
With spears descending from within the fire,
The magnificent beauty of the sunset each day,
An immanent display, for the world to share,
As it seeps below horizons, to end the day,
Only to share light, so that others may see,
The beauty of the sunset for all who care,
Up above the clouds, that shadow the light,
The rain, the snow, and the elements that blind,
That magnificent glow, that Brightens our world,
Another sunset awaits, just to share its light. 

B.J. Ayers