I never drove the stretch of Highway 1 north of San Francisco to Fort Bragg myself, so I decided to get away from the heatwave and enjoy the coast for a few days.
It was a bit foggy once I got to the coast, but since I dislike being too hot, the change to cooler weather was much appreciated. I stopped at a small turnout after driving through Bodega Bay to eat lunch and enjoy the ocean view.
It’s a nice feeling to take photos of my beautiful van in picturesque settings. I especially love all the Cypress trees along the coast. These trees have always struck me as beautiful since they grow in harsh conditions on cliffs and fog, plus I love how they form their canopy structure with the wind.
Did you know that there are 11 species of cypress that occur in California? Sadly 7 of these have been assigned a California Rare Plant Rank of 1B (rare, threatened, or endangered). These include Santa Cruz, Tecate, Gowen, Monterey, Piute, Pygmy, and Cuyamaca cypress varietals. One of the main reasons for this is climate change and human-induced changes to the natural fire regime. If the interval between fires is too short, trees are unable to reach reproductive age before the next fire, often causing cypress to be replaced by adjacent vegetation types. Thanks to California Native Plant Society for this info.
For more photos, check out my Instagram post!