08/13/04 Report: "The Crack"

TW and I met in Half Moon Bay with images of a glassy 
San Mateo coastline. To our delight the sun was shining 
and it was quite warm. We drove out to the newish 
Ritz Carlton Hotel for some reason and checked out that 
stretch of coast for the first time. Not much in the way 
of surf but a real nice beach despite the tasteful improvements. 
Golf courses are always so pretty. I noted a raven
pair sitting in the grass at the edge of the cliff,
obviously longtime residents of the area.  Outwardly
they seemed unfazed by the golf carts rushing by and
the lively wedding rehearsal taking place on the hotel
lawn, as if they knew that it would all crumble into
the sea before long anyways.

We left a car there and headed south to a place
that is called the Crack, or so I think.   The trail
heads down a shallow canyon toward the water, through
a healthy thicket of poison oak and around and over,
by means of a wooden plank, a miniature sandstone
trench with water running in the bottom.  Someone
carved a "ladder" out of the vertical rock that rises
out of the sand. The beach felt isolated and lonely;
no one was out except for two guys down the beach a
few hundred yards.  Hundred foot sandstone cliffs
stood overhead.  The waves were modest but provided
some good rides for the both of us.  Occasionally a
shoulder-high set would come through.  TW and I were
both amazed that we could get any waves at all on such
a small day.  




(A lonely summer peak rolls into "the Crack". central coast. photo: tw)