Point Reyes Lighthouse Parking Lot View

Even before you consider going to Point Reyes lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore, be sure to pack your best windbreaker and an extra layer of clothes. The Point Reyes lighthouse is the windiest and foggiest point on the Pacific coast and even on a sunny day, the wind can send chills through your body (and may provide the opportunity to see double waves). I arrived on a beautiful sunny day, but with wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour which would have left me shivering without my windbreaker.

After you park in the Point Reyes Lighthouse parking lot, you will see a gated road which you will follow to get to the Point Reyes lighthouse. To the right of the gate is a dramatic view point which looks out over rows of waves crashing onto Point Reyes Beach that makes for a wonderful photograph:

View from the Point Reyes lighthouse parking lot over the ocean

Marble Ridge Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

Even before you get to the entrance of Crystal Cave at Sequoia National Park (CA), there are sights to see. In order to reach the Crystal cave entrance, there is a half mile walk down a paved path that descends the equivalent of a 30 story building (which also means you need to walk up it once the cave tour is over). Half way down you come to a sign that talks about Marble Ridge which can bee seen across the valley from where you stand. The sign states:

Marble Ridge: Beyond is the ridge of marble which Crystal Cave is formed. Behind you is an extension of the same outcrop. Steeply tilted beds of marble, schist, quartzite, and other metamorphic rocks trend northwestward across the upper foothills of the park. They are the remnants of the ancestral Sierra Nevada which was eroded to a low land long before the uplift of the present range. These rocks and the granite that was intruded into them may be observed along the trail.

Marble Ridge near Crystal Cave

Marble Ridge near Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park