the elk came out to play.

mom and i went hiking in point reyes, the friday after thanksgiving. it's one of my favorite places to be, and i've written about it a number of times on this blog. i feel at home when i'm roaming in that space, as if it was created for me as a respite where i can go to just be. it's where i go away to get re-centered, focused, and relaxed.

naturally, i took my mom there since she loves to hike and she loves the ocean. she normally takes 10+ mile hikes in the mountains every weekend, so this was an easy 10 mile hike for her. we went to the famous tule elk trail that starts at pierce point ranch. it's 4.7 miles to the tip of tomales point, with very few inclines. easy.

funny thing is that, as many times as i've been out to that trail, i never knew it went all the way to the tip of the bay! i felt like i had gotten robbed when i realized that trail was actually 10 miles total. in fact, i told my mom the trail would be only 4 miles or so because that's all i had ever done. to my delightful surprise, we hiked all 10 miles, ate mom-made kimbap at the end and then tailed it back in time to indulge in some fresh oysters on our way home.