Solitude, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

The fishing trawler Point Reyes is forever aground on a Tomales Bay mud bank behind the Inverness, California general store. Along with the Point Reyes Lighthouse, this wrecked ship is a cannonical photostop on the Point Reyes tour, just as McWay Creek Falls attracts photographers visiting Big Sur. In the same way, Tunnel View in Yosemite is nearly always crowded with nature’s paparazzi (but not at night!). I’ve photographed the wrecked trawler before, and she’s even landed on the cover of one of my older books.

Crowds at Point Reyes feel far less crowded than at most other places of comparable world-class beauty. Despite the notoriety of the spot, every time I visit the old, wrecked trawler I get a positively wonderful tingle of schadenfreude. The sense of solititude here is palpable and bracing.

Coming home from McClure Beach, the light was perfect as we drove through Inverness, and I had to stop for a photo. The kids were annoyed at me because I didn’t let them wade across the channel and climb around on the boat. Then again, they had no change of dry clothes left after wading at McClure, it was getting late, and Julian had already spent many hours climbing around on the Point Reyes in days gone by. It’s hard to maintain that sense of schadenfreude when you have whining kids you need to get home safe and dry.

[Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR zoom lens at 32mm (48mm in 35mm terms), circular polarizer, 1/2 of a second at f/29 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]