Ray and I Take His Son Joey on a Hike to the Old Indian Women’s Face Rock

Thursday May 7, 2015 Jenner CA.

As I drove into Jenner this morning I could see Ray and his son Joey in their boats over by Penny island so I put my boat in the water and joined them. It looked like it was going to be a windy day as the wind was already up, just a bit. We decided to go down river around the end of Penny Island and then up the back channel, so we headed that way.

Going around Penny Island

We cut across this little channel on the lower end of Penny Island to get to the back channel that goes back up the river. The wind was blowing out in the open water, but not much in this protected area. Ray is in the yellow boat and his son Joey is in the red one and I’m in the green one. :O)

The wind blows us along

This was our view as we pulled into the island back channel and let the wind blow us up the river. Some nice clouds were in the sky.

We continued on up the river as more clouds were forming in the sky.

Indian Rock Trailhead

We were headed to the Indian Rock Trailhead, about a mile up the river from the boat ramp.

We weren’t sure we could get out at that spot as the water level is high, but down a little from yesterday, so that indicates the river’s mouth is still open at least a little.

Poison oak

We were just able to get out of our boats at the spot and we headed on up the hill trail. The trail has a bunch of poison oak. Joey doesn’t remember catching it, so we took a chance and took him up the trail. If he caught poison oak when he was a kid, he’d remember it, so there is a good chance he will be ok with it, but only time will tell. :O) Poison oak grows everywhere in this area and there is no way it can be totally avoided.

Up the trail

Here we are walking up the animal trail under some big fir trees, almost to the top.

The rock

As we get near the top, it pops us out in a grassy field. Ray and Joey are just getting to the Old Indian Women’s Face rock.

Here’s Ray pointing something out to his son while sitting on top of the rock. I think he was saying, across the river on the hill is where we’ve been seeing some wild pigs, but we didn’t see any today.

Anyone want to continue to Upper Lookout Point?

The wind was blowing cool on the rock top. After awhile I asked if they wanted to continue a bit further to the Upper Lookout Point which was in the field behind us several hundred yards through the grass. From this lookout point, one can see both the river and the ocean. Ray and Joey were up for it, so we headed that way through the grasses and yes, more poison oak.

Here we are just approaching Upper Lookout Point, up on those rocks, just ahead.

If the higher grasses can be avoided it’s a rather easy walk. We are headed up the hill  and on the left which is Upper Lookout Point.

Pacific ocean view

This was one of our views looking south to the Pacific ocean towards Bodega Bay which is out of sight. Joey contemplates the view as he sees it for the first time.

Deer skull in the rocks

We sat around on the top of the rocks resting and enjoying the scenery. After awhile, I got up to take some photos and was moving around to different places in the rocks. At the highest point, I looked down to see this skull in the rocks. Some animal must of brought up this deer skull to this point as no deer could of died on this spot.

Something else up there too

I was showing Ray the skull when I noticed something else I hadn’t seen before although, it’s always been right in front of me.

On one end of Lookout Point I noticed this rock enclosure. It was a rock wall built likely as a blind to hunt deer, maybe. It didn’t look like it’s been used in a long time.

Headed back down

Here’s Ray showing Joey something on the way back down to the river. Wild flower’s I think.

Back to the boats

Here we are just back to our boats. Note Joey’s hands up in the air to avoid touching as much poison oak as possible.

We paddled on back down the river and thought we could cross over the little channel on the upper end of the island. Joey is indicating there’s a way to get by the logs. This area is out of the wind.

We rested in this spot for a bit, then went on in for the day and went on home.

That pretty much wore me out, so I didn’t get much done when I got home, but I’m retired so that’s’ ok.

Nice day.