22 POINT LOBOS RESERVE 



and directions of faulting of the granite which produce a series of steep 

 slopes facing northeasterly and southwesterly ; and where a point is being 

 cut off from the mainland by the sea there is also a steep slope to the south- 

 east. Thus the form toward which each point and island is tending as the 

 ocean carves away its base is that of a pyramid. This is typified by the 

 pinnacles at the outer end of Cypress Headland. 



Combined with this strong harmony of form is remarkable richness of 

 color. The sea is the most changeable element, reflecting from afar every 

 color of light thrown upon it ; rich blue under a sunny sky, shot with white 

 or lead gray from banks of fog, or tinged by brilliant reds and yellows of 

 a sunset. Close inshore the plunging view from bluffs and cliffs, so char- 

 acteristic of Point Lobos, penetrates the surface reflections and catches 

 light reflected from things beneath : brilliant emerald greens of sunlit sand, 

 warm red-browns of waving kelp, lavenders and crimsons of life encrusted 

 on the rocks, rich olive greens of deep water and pale blue-greens of sub- 

 merged clouds of air close to the foaming white breakers — with, perhaps, 

 as an added touch of color, a black and white guillemot with orange-red 

 feet swimming around the shore. These are impressions one remembers, and 

 when overlaid with swirls of creamy froth and broken here and there by 

 reflected glints of gray rocks, overhanging green foliage, bright orange alga 

 or blue sky, the riotous symphony of changing color becomes a challenge 

 to every artist to see how much of it he can catch. Then add to these the 

 red-browns of the granite below the spray line; and, above, the blue and 

 pink trailing rosettes of Cotoledons with their pale yellow flowers making 

 a soft rich tapestry over the steep bluffs ; and, above these, a zone of green 

 covered with fiery orange Castilleia, bright yellow Ericameria and soft blue 

 Erigeron going back into the shade of the cypress woods where rise the 

 tree trunks, red-brown, or bleached to the light gray of the granite rock; 

 naked and dead, or supporting at their tops dense heads of twiggage washed 

 beneath with the rich orange-red and silver of the alga; and crowned 

 against the sky with bright green foliage. This is rich pictorial material, 

 and even painters who care little for the manifestations of nature come 

 here day after day, and year after year, for inspiration. 



For those who find greatest interest in observing nature as a dynamic 

 living organism, there is added to the thrill of color and form a dramatiza- 

 tion of two opposed processes — one, the disintegration of the rock by the 

 plant cover and rain and sun, making of it food for the support of a richer 

 and finer plant cover; and the other, that of the sea eating slowly back 

 into this headland, aided, strangely enough, by the cypress tree itself, 

 which may be observed splitting off great chunks of granite by the pres- 

 sure of growing roots in seams of the rock. It is thrilling to go out onto the 

 Cypress Headland and stand in a wilderness of clean-washed granite ridges 

 with sea water surging in narrow chasms between, among rocky ribs of the 

 earth that once supported soil, flowers and trees like those seen inshore. 



The cycle of growth and decay of the cypress is worth noting because 

 of its influence on the character of this landscape. Where reproduction is 

 very thin and scattered, as on the outlying ridges at the end of Cypress 

 Headland, and in portions of the landward margins, trees stand out as 

 individuals through their entire history. Elsewhere, reproduction is apt 

 to go in waves, creating thickets of young cypresses whose foliage often 

 presents continuous surfaces modeled by the wind into smooth-flowing con- 

 tours. The most outstanding examples of this effect are to be found in the 

 eastern portion of the north shore. A less extensive example is to be found 



