LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING 31 



quite suddenly into steep sideslopes. To look down, therefore, on what lies 

 close to the hill, one must make a tour of the edge of this terrace, and then 

 one will be rewarded with a long series of fine plunging views. Of these, 

 one will longest remember those looking down on Blue Fish Cove, The Pass, 

 Big Dome Cove, and on The Old Veteran — which, as seen from Whalers 

 Knoll, is in silhouette against the water of Little Dome Cove far below, 

 and gives the impression of being suspended or poised. 



High Chaparral Areas 



While the narrow belts of high chaparral, made up principally of Cea- 

 nothus, are chiefly important esthetically in their relation to the broad 

 meadow views, they have, nevertheless, for those who care to enter them, 

 an interest and charm definitely their ow^n. They constitute an "elfin for- 

 est" of weirdly formed "trees" full of small animal and bird life, where 

 wood rat nests are quite a common feature. There soil is a deep soft duff, at 

 times so deep that it takes a lot of heavy rain to penetrate it, so that often 

 there is little or no plant cover. 



Broad Sweeping Meadows Bounded by Varying Combinations 

 of Pine Forest, Chaparral and the Sea 



The feeling of these meadows is one of peace and restfulness. They are 

 large enough to give the eye scope to wander, sufficiently contained by their 

 barriers of forest, so that one is not wondering what is over the hill ; simple 

 in texture, simple in topography, leading the eye inevitably, though gently, 

 to the restful horizon of the sea. 



Of pictorial material the meadows are full, although not with the lavish 

 richness of the north headland area. Color there is in plenty, in bold 

 splashes throughout the spring when most of the flowers are blooming, and 

 in more subdued but still rich tones of browns and reds throughout the 

 long dry summer, changing with the winter rains to lush bright green shot 

 through with the red-bro\vn of last year 's stalks ; with always the little- 

 changing foil of dull green pines, almost the dullest green of all the pines, 

 and the ever-changing sky and sea. Pictorial depth, that separation of 

 planes of relative distance into sufficiently simple terms to be easily grasped 

 and enjoyed in a single view, is furnished here by the undulating forest 

 margins and by lone trees or isolated clumps of trees standing free in the 

 meadows, between or beyond which more pines are seen at greater dis- 

 tances, carrying the eye through from group to group until it comes to rest 

 on some feature adequate to arrest it. This effect is lovely if the terminus 

 is still more pines, but the striking views, and those most typical of Point 

 Lobos, occur when interest is finally focused on surf-washed shore or bold 

 rocky islands. 



Beautiful as these sea-facing meadows are from a purely pictorial stand- 

 point, they become infinitely more inspiring when one knows something of 

 their significance in the long progression of natural change. One may be 

 thrilled by the knowledge that the beautiful front of the meadow, gently 

 sloping toward the sea, represents the cutting and building of a terrace by 

 that same Pacific Ocean which now rolls against the rocks at its seaward 



Open hilltops are ancient beach 



terraces that now break suddenly into steep 



sideslopes overlooking colorful coves 



