South from Arch Rock, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

I left home after dinner. It took me a bit more than an hour to drive to the parking lot at Bear Valley (this is also the Point Reyes visitor center).

The sun had just set and the clouds were decorated with red and gold as I laced on my hiking boots. Pretty soon the trail to Arch Rock became a tunnel through a different universe. I saw luminous eyes in the darkness, big bouncy rabbits, and exotic deer. I heard falling water almost all the way, some dripping in rhythmic patterns.

At about four miles, I came out of the dark tunnel into a great valley. My trail met the coastal trail, and the valley opened to the sea.

There was enough light left, barely, to find my way onto a high perch. The forest had been still other than the sounds of animals and the noise from brooks, but here high above the Pacific Ocean, the wind blew and big breakers crashed to the shore.

To the north, I could see the last light of sunset and the curve of Point Reyes.

South from Arch Rock, the cliffs picked up some left-over light radiation from the sunset, while stars peeked through the clouds. Hard by the cliff edge, with my tripod holding fast in the wind, I exposed this image at ten seconds (ISO 100, f/14, 13mm lens), fast enough so that some wave action was apparent but slow enough to capture the renegade remaining photons.