on the cliff

Visitors are also a good excuse to get to places. I've been through the Tom Santos Tunnels (bypassing the treacherous Devil's Slide along the coast south of San Francisco) several times since they opened four years ago, but I'd never had the time to explore the conversion of the old road into a park trail. It's a satisfying idea, though, because on the old road drivers could see out of the corners of our eyes that the scenery was spectacular, but taking attention off the road even for a moment was far too dangerous, and there was no place to pull off either.

Thanks to the bypass, there is now, so thence my brother and I went on Monday. It was an alarming day, full of cloudbursts, in the morning, but the weather softened in the afternoon, and, it being the shoulder season when the temperatures of land and ocean were in harmony, there was no fog. There's parking lots now at both ends, with a 1.3 mile trail between, but if you're not minded to walk the whole thing, the south end has the good ocean views.

It was clear enough that I could actually see 25 or so miles out to the Farallones, or the Far-Along Islands as I call them.

Here I am along the trail, and you can actually almost see the islands in an enlarged view.