Poetry
Catalina Island...on my mind
Footsteps up front dusty trail behind,
Catalina Island has been on my mind.
I climb a peak and then another.
What will I see my heart's aflutter.Red-tailed hawks soar overhead.
A Belding's squirrel running up ahead.
A strange new print not seen at home.
This must be where the buffalo roam!A hissing sound; the tail that shakes.
On this trail lies a rattlesnake.
Downward I tread; the trail is slow
Cool air rising from the sea below.Footsteps up front, dusty trail behind.
Catalina Island has been on my mind.A.cspita.thought
(Cynthia Spita)
SAN FRANCISCO
Our ridge trail plunged down from Marin County
I worry about my five deer-tick bites
Two red suspension towers pierced the fog
Fifty hikers cheered us across the delicate span
Forty-six days ago we filled vials with seawater
We release Del Norte ocean droplets into bay as fog lifts
The Golden Gate bridges us into a city of light
COUNTY OF THALASSIC ANGELS
News item: 30 million Californians live within 10 miles of ocean
Malibu moguls and big-buck angels
secure beachheads with signs-----and guardians
who drive dune-buggies-----to keep us
activist hikers below high-tide line
UCLA prof in action like an angel
wrestles us through local coastal barriers
shares Technology Research news
that love of sea is sex-linked trait
thalassophia
Cherubs wear thongs on beach to worship
sea and sun (Are those thongs comfortable?)
L.A. County sheriff tickets nudists
alcohol imbibers and dogs without licenses
but not us-----thalassophians without access
Marilyn and I soar above surf like angels
on horseback circling Santa Monica pier
we grasp brassy rings on old
thalassic merry-go-round
Angels of peace deliver Korean bell
under San Padro pagoda facing L.A. Harbor
in front of our no-star hostel
accessible to seraphic opossum
whose tail tends to go-----merry-round
hostile kitchen plumbing
From shore we give backward looks
at Michaelangelo clouds that filter late-day
spotlights on distant wave patterns
our hiking feet continue to claim
celestial sandscapes flecked with gold
Pictures
Photographs, Drawings, and Paintings, and more...
CoastWalk, Lost Coast Backpack, Sinkyone Wilderness, July 22-30, 2000 Photos by Don Nierlich
CoastWalk Dayhike, Sonoma County, March 26, 2000 Photos by Linda Wilson
Humor
Why do fish live in salt water?
Pepper makes them sneeze.from Luis, 9, Twin Lakes Elementary, El Monte, in the LA Times, January 6, 2000, page E7
Journals
- Coastwalk Hikes the Backbone Trail, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, by Richard Nichols
- Coastwalk, Del Norte County, by Pamela Noel
- McBride Trail, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Los Angeles County, December 11, 1999
- Nicholas Canyon County Park to Leo Carrillo State Park, Los Angeles County, November 21, 1999
- A generalized transect from Leo Carrillo State Park, Sequit Point, to Nicholas Canyon County Park
- Ormond Beach, Ventura County, November 14, 1999
- A cross-section of Ormond Beach
