Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pescadero, California

All Photos © Tim N. Touchton

Each photograph is available as an 8x10 for a cost of $ 12.00
plus $2.00 shipping. Check or money order only please.

The first and third photographs were taken on June 18 and the middle one was taken
on June 20, 2000. We stayed in Sunnyvale on the 18th and in Half Moon Bay on the
20th. We were there to see my older two son's band, xbxrx, play shows in Sunnyvale
and in San Francisco. We missed the Oakland show (it was Father's Day and we decided
instead to go spend the day together at Pigeon Point. What a wonderful day too!) and
we also missed the San Louis Obispo show, but we both saw the Sunnyvale show and I
also saw the San Francisco show, which was awesome.

We were in Sunnyvale on the 17 for the show and stayed at a Ramada Inn. You cannot
get a room anywhere near the Sunnyvale/San Francisco area during the week. Commuters
stay in the hotels from Sunday through Thursday. We were also there during the Pebble Beach
Golf Tournament, which also made it even more difficult to get a room. I did not make any
reservations because I was not sure where we would be each day, so we just went with the
flow. Silicon Valley is way too expensive to visit, much less live there. Gas prices and hotel
prices are OVERPRICED. Anyway we decided to stay both nights at this hotel, since we
actually had a room, but the rest of the week it was booked. We drove to Pigeon Point to see
the lighthouse, play in the Pacific Ocean and have a great Father's Day. In California to get from
I-5 or 110 to any place "west" is a real pain in the butt. Once you are on Hwy 1 you can travel
anywhere north or south along the coast, literally at the waters edge. When we first saw the
magnificent lighthouse from a distance on down Hwy 1, it was a beautiful site. I was overwhelmed.
I stopped a distance away for a photograph and noticed several people looking at something
in the water below. It was a large sea otter swimming on it's back cleaning some food on it's belly.
We paid to take the tour and the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and fun. He was a
very good guide. We also climbed the tower and got to get an up close look at the First Order
Fresnel lens. You could see where people with camera's had accidentally bumped the glass and
scratched the prisms. It was beautiful and my video came out really well. (I did not touch the
lens with my camera's and I was also right beside the tour guide.) The view from the lens room
was breathtaking. Pigeon Point is a youth hostel so there is a time in the afternoon when visitors
must leave so the youth can arrive. We decided to climb down to the water (see photograph
two in the middle above) and this was the first time that Rich had ever been in the Pacific Ocean.
The water was very cold (we are used the warm Gulf waters) and it was extremely clear. We
stayed on the beach for about 90 minutes and Rich didn't want to leave, but I wanted to get to
the Point Montara Lighthouse up the road a ways. The west coast doesn't have the tall lighthouses
like on the east coast due to the fog problems, plus the fact that they are already up so high
above the water on the cliff edges.

We also went back to Pigeon Point on Tuesday June 20, 2000 and that's when I took the
middle photograph above. We came from Davis, California (xbxrx show was cancelled there
and we were not told until we got there, they were still in San Francisco) where we stayed in
the most charming old motel, similar to the ones I remember staying at when I was a young child.
The name of the hotel is the Ranch Motel off I-80 and is wonderful. No thrills, just an old fashioned
motel with charming little rooms. There are horses out back, ivy covered sidewalks, bottle openers
in the tiled bathrooms. Our room was the "golfers" rooms with golf decorations everywhere. Anyway,
we drove back to the San Francisco area and knew we would not get a room, but we found one at
at Holiday Inn Express in Half Moon Bay on the coast. It was VERY expensive, but it was a nice room.
The most important thing about it was that it WAS A ROOM! The woman working the front desk was
very nice and helpful. It was also close to both Pigeon Point and Point Montara and we wanted a
day of rest and relaxation. It was low tide when we got to Pigeon Point and there were tidal pools
everywhere. Crystal clear water, low tides, rocks and 2 people young at heart ready to explore
the beach. It was great. My son decided to taste some of the large kelp and he didn't care for
it all that much. We waded into the tidal pools, walked far across the rocks and found all types
of sea life. We counted 47 star fish (or sea stars for the picky people) before we both lost count
and we saw a sea urchin and some beautiful glowing green sea anemones. Small crabs were
everywhere, as well as some small fish which I could not recognize what kind they were. We had
a great time and stayed for several hours before it started to get dark and we had to leave.
We could have stayed there for days and I put this place on the top of my list of lighthouses to
visit. The First Order Fresnel lens is not being used, but they did have plans on "lighting" it in
November 2000 at a special ceremony. (Notice the missing section in the third photograph.)

Specifics about the Pigeon Point Lighthouse:

Established in 1872
Tower height: 115 feet
Materials: brick
Lens: First-Order Fresnel
Lens flash: Every 10 seconds
Current operation: Youth hostel

Lighthouse name: From the Yankee clipper, Carrier Pigeon
that shipwrecked there in 1853
Directions: off Hwy 1 south of Pescadero, you cannot miss it!!
About 50 miles south of San Francisco

For information: call 415-879-0633 or write to:
Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel
210 Pigeon Point Road/Hwy One
Pescadero, CA 94060

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