Today I found mostly cool refuge from the oddly warm/hot day over in Pacifica. Where you can practicallyalways count on reasonable temps for those of us that don’t care for temps in the 70 degree mark and above.

I didn’t really have the Mussel Rock Trail route on AllTrails on my list, but it was in a literally cool place. Easy level. And a place I haven’t been yet.

We actually did visit its parking lot during the pandemic, and it didn’t hold much appeal to investigate further. But, when in Cool Pacifica!

After leaving the parking lot to head out, some familiar coastal plants were nice to see. Like Seaside Woolly Sunflower (TONS OF IT) and some Pacific Aster and a good number of Metepeira Trash Spiders that all appeared to have started a small village together.

I was super excited to spot Great Horsetail which opened up the canyon and cliff side views. Awesome. But it quickly turned into lots and lots and lots of Wild Radish and Iceplant for days.

But once I got a clear view of Mussel Rock itself, a pair of West Coast Lady butterflies made it immediately clear I was encroaching on their spot. Got to watch them for a bit, in an En Garde stance. Then fighting. And that made things interesting! They were the only Butterflies I saw while out there, which I thought was interesting…

There was SO MUCH Seaside Woolly Sunflowers out. Plus all the loads of invasive flowers. And it was warm enough! Perhaps the fortunateforme cool ocean breeze keeps many of them away?

Out on Mussel Rock itself, there were so many Brown Pelicans, along with Cormorants and what Merlin’s Sound ID feature believed were Heerman’s Gulls. Making hilarious laughing sounds.

I appreciated the one sign I found in the area that talked about the Ohlone people that lived here. It included illustrations of what someone imagined their village must’ve looked like on the cliff shelves, that eventually made their way down to the actual and very narrow beach. You can pretty easily see those cliff shelves now. Which is neato to look at and think about the Ohlone people there.

The rest of the trails are relatively uneventful. HOWEVER. Being able to see the side of the cliffs there, so dramatically rising so vertically from and so insanely close to sea level, is worth checking out. You can truly see how the ocean floor just pushed up at that very spot!

While noticing a couple Bumble Bees buzzing around the Common Yarrow and Sunflowers, I spotted an unusually marked Fly. Turns out, it was newtome Oblique Streaktail. Which is a Hoverfly. The markings on the tail end of it are Pure Art. Gives it a Bee look to it, I guess? Do other Hoverflies have similar artistic markings like that?

Wish I’d gotten better photos of it.

I took a side trail (not part of the AllTrails route), and I was rewarded by having the trail all to myself. As the handful of others in the park appeared to go directly to the beach. Mostly for fishing or walking their dog or ebiking. And just before starting on this side trail, I had thought how I could envision bunnies amongst all the Coyote Brush there.

AND, GUESS WHAT.

I came around a corner to find TWO Brush Rabbits just chilin’ on the trail way ahead of me. With yellow Primrose and yellow Trefoil flowers on each side of them. ADORBS. They soon scattered once I got too close for comfort. But, BUNNIES!!

I was looping back around and tried finding Whales out in the distance. I THINK I saw two spouts. But I couldn’t be certain…

On the walk back, I turned a corner and caught sight of another Brush Rabbit scurrying down a super skinny trail. I cautiously kept still and moved slowly to try seeing if it was in view whatsoever.

AND, GUESS WHAT!

It WAS. Hiding behind flowers. The smallest Brush Rabbit that I have EVER SEEN. I could have easily held it in the palm of my hand. OMG OMG OMG. It stayed perfectly still. Keeping one eye on me. And after getting a couple photos, I slowly moved away and continued on my way out.

The sound of a Northern Flicker and a couple California Scrub-Jays were above the parking lot. But that was it. I bet this spot is worth visiting in the Spring. And I now know there’s a decent population of Brush Rabbits in this small bit of a park overlooking the end of the world. Which is nice. Not too shabby for a Monday.