Week 8&1/2: Hospitality Point and the Town of Cats

So I stole the title from a chapter of Murakami's 1Q84 for this leg of the journey, if you can call it that. Anita and I have been having a conversation trying to determine what constitutes "The Coast" and what we should walk if we are to "Walk the Coast."  Also we can't be expected to trespass across military property (While I certainly would love to have more beaches to walk on, I don't think this is the way to advocate for it).   Also, it seems perfectly reasonable to avail ourselves to bridges and ferries where they are necessary, and certainly we shouldn't be expected to circumnavigate every little estruary or even some of the larger ones, even if there is not bridge across.  So we aren't going to do much of San Diego Bay.  Then there's the, Tijuana River.  We could certainly walk across it at low tide, but I think I'd want a tetanus shot soon afterward.     In other words we sometimes skip across the outlets of the major and minor bays and rivers.  So when we got to the south end of Mission Beach and the mouth of Mission Bay, it seemed reasonable to pick up the next phase of our journey across the water. I however wanted to argue that Hospitality point by virtue of sticking out into the ocean as far as it does counts as "The Coast" and as such we are obligated to "Walk it"

Check out the new ride!

What this entailed was walking the width of the jetty, as far inland as was necessary to avoid hazards and trespassing issues.  Anita had just gotten a great deal on a used bike, so we decided to ride out there together and "Walk the Coast" one more time this weekend.

The last mile of I-8

The sky so beautiful as the marine layer advances

Looking back up the river

This is NOT a JOKE, a lot of the native plant life looks dead at the end of the dry season, which is right now.  Indeed much of the greenery of San Diego is imported from somewhere else and often requires a LOT of water.

I took us north first, then, out to the point.

I have reached the Norther Apex and feel victorious

So part of the reason for calling this post "Town of cats" is that there is actually a substantial stray cat population.  They appear well fed and some of them will even walk up and rub against you.  I suspect, however that they keep the bird population in check and the jetty free of fish guts.  It is an odd world and I wonder about taking their pictures.  Maybe they are akin to the temple cats of southeast asia who stand guard in front of various shrines.  I really do hope some effort is being made to keep them from reproducing

Woohoo!

So It may have been possible to go beyond the fence, but the sign said no-tresspassing and whenever a boat went into or out of Mission Bay, its wake washed over the jetty, So I was happy to call this "The Coast."

Water washing across the Jetty, Can't have that, too dangerous.

The requisite selfie

I swear I walked across this Jetty

For our purposes all you see here is NOT "The Coast"

"The Coast" ended somewhere in the middle of this picture

The Coast will pick up again next week at  Dog beach.

The Sunset Cliffs bridge from the West.

So With the sun approaching the horizon and our mission accomplished we made our way home crossing the Sunset Cliffs Bridge for good measure.

The view toward the Coast from the Sunset Cliffs Bridge.