RON HENGGELER

Early in the morning, Francisco and Janis watched us as we prepared to leave for the day.
They had a sense that something was going on and were keen to know what it was.

A shed in Inverness on the way to Point Reyes National Seashore.

A view of Sir Francis Drake Blvd. cutting through the Pastoral Lands in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
The dark land mass on the horizon in the center is the Point Reyes.

A glimpsed view of a barn and out-building on one of the Historic Dairy Farms on the way to the Point Reyes Lighthouse

Two local residents of the Point Reyes National Seashore and their birds-eye view of the 11 mile-long Great Beach at Point Reyes.
Point Reyes is the windiest place on the Pacific Coast and the second foggiest place on the North American continent. Weeks of fog, especially during the summer months, frequently reduce visibility to hundreds of feet. The Point Reyes Headlands, which jut 10 miles out to sea, pose a threat to each ship entering or leaving San Francisco Bay. The historic Point Reyes Lighthouse warned mariners of danger for more than a hundred years.

Unusual cloud formations in the sky above the Point Reyes Lighthouse

An old unused utility building near the the Point Reyes Lighthouse

A view of the shimmering Pacific from the Observation Deck near the top of the stairs that lead to and from the Point Reyes Lighthouse

A view of the historic Point Reyes Lighthouse with the 300 steps leading to it.
A warning sign posted at the top of the stairs states that it is like descending and climbing a 30 story building.

Two American tourists speaking with a French woman and her son, at the Observation Deck near the top of the stairs

A Kodak moment at the Observation Deck near the top of the stairs that lead to and from the Point Reyes Lighthouse

A view from about half way down the stairs.
The Point Reyes Light First Shone in 1870.
The Point Reyes Lighthouse lens and mechanism were constructed in France in 1867. The clockwork mechanism, glass prisms and housing for the lighthouse were shipped on a steamer around the tip of South America to San Francisco. The parts from France and the parts for the cast iron tower were transferred to a second ship, which then sailed to a landing on Drakes Bay. The parts were loaded onto ox-drawn carts and hauled three miles over the headlands to near the tip of Point Reyes, 600 feet above sea level.

The historic Point Reyes Lighthouse

The view at the base of the 300 steps looking back up to the top

A German tourist and his son visiting the Point Reyes Lighthouse

The historic 1870 Point Reyes Lighthouse

The view looking south as seen from the historic Point Reyes Lighthouse

The Fresnel Lens: The French Jewels
The lens in the Point Reyes Lighthouse is a "first order" Fresnel (fray-nel) lens, the largest size of Fresnel lens.
Augustin Jean Fresnel of France revolutionized optics theories with his new lens design in 1823.
Before Fresnel developed this lens, lighthouses used mirrors to reflect light out to sea. The most effective lighthouses could only be seen eight to twelve miles away. After his invention, the brightest lighthouses could be seen all the way to the horizon, about twenty-four miles.

Anela Marie Ramos standing at the base on which the the lens rotates inside the lighthouse.
Anela is the Winter Wildlife Docent Program Coordinator at Point Reyes National Seashore.

The door on the base that opens up to the counterweight and gears of the lens’ rotating mechanism.

Anela Marie Ramos
Anela is the Winter Wildlife Docent Program Coordinator at Point Reyes National Seashore.
The National Park Service is now responsible for the maintenance of the lighthouse. Park rangers now clean, polish and grease it, just as lighthouse keepers did in days gone by. With this care, the light can be preserved for future generations--to teach visitors of maritime history and of the people who worked the light, day in and day out, rain or shine, for so many years.

A counterweight and gears similar to those in a grandfather clock rotate the 6000-pound lens at a constant speed, one revolution every two minutes. This rotation makes the beams sweep over the ocean surface like the spokes of a wagon wheel, and creates the Point Reyes signature pattern of one flash every five seconds.

The Fresnel lens intensifies the light by bending (or refracting) and magnifying the source light through crystal prisms into concentrated beams. The Point Reyes lens is divided into twenty-four vertical panels, which direct the light into twenty-four individual beams.

Anela kindly allowed me upstairs in the lighthouse so that I could view and photograph the historic lens up close.
This area is closed to the public, so it was a rare treat for me to see this lens up close.

The electric light inside the Fresnel lens

A close-up of the prisms that make up the top of the Fresnel lens

The rare view from inside the Fresnel lens of the 1870 Point Reyes Lighthouse

Keeping the lighthouse in working condition was a twenty-four hour job. The light was lit only between sunset and sunrise, but there was work to do all day long. The head keeper and three assistants shared the load in four six-hour shifts. Every evening, a half-hour before sunset, a keeper walked down the wooden stairs to light the oil lamp, the lighthouse's source of illumination. Once the lamp was lit, the keeper wound the clockwork mechanism, lifting a 170 pound weight, which was attached to the clockwork mechanism by a hemp rope, nine feet off the floor. The earth's gravity would then pull the weight, through a small trap door, to the ground level 17 feet below. The clockwork mechanism was built to provide resistance so that it would take two hours and twenty minutes for the weight to descend the 17 feet. And as the weight descended and the clockwork mechanism's gears spun, the Fresnel lens would turn so that the light appeared to flash every five seconds. In addition to winding the clockwork mechanism every two-hours and twenty minutes throughout the night, the keeper had to keep the lamp wicks trimmed so that the light would burn steadily and efficiently, thus the nickname "wickie."

The long trek back up the coastal cliff from the 1870 Point Reyes Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is an Enduring Historical Legacy
The historic Point Reyes Lighthouse served mariners for 105 years before it was replaced. It endured many hardships, including the April 18, 1906, earthquake, during which the Point Reyes Peninsula and the lighthouse moved north 18 feet in less than one minute! The only damage to the lighthouse was that the lens slipped off its tracks. The lighthouse keepers quickly effected repairs and by the evening of the eighteenth, the lighthouse was once again in working order. The earthquake occurred at 5:12 am and the lighthouse was scheduled to be shut down for regular daytime maintenance at 5:25 am. Although the earthquake caused much devastation and disruption elsewhere, the Point Reyes Lighthouse was essentially only off-line for thirteen minutes!

John Reeves Point Reyes Lighthouse Visitors Center
Visiting the Point Reyes Lighthouse Today
The Point Reyes Lighthouse is located on the western-most point of the Point Reyes Headlands. "Operational Changes" that began on May 1, 2013: The Lighthouse Visitor Center will only be open from 10 am to 4:30 pm, Fridays through Mondays; closed Tuesdays through Thursdays. Here, you can see historic photographs of shipwrecks and lighthouse-keepers, and handle items on the touch table, including whale baleen. A display of local birds will introduce you to the birds you might see just off the cliffs. A small bookstore offers books, maps and other educational products. To get to the lighthouse itself, you must walk a half-mile from the parking lot to the Visitor Center, and then down 308 steps. "Operational Changes" that began on May 1, 2013 : The stairs leading down to the Lighthouse will only be open from 10 am to 4:30 pm, Fridays through Mondays; closed Tuesdays through Thursdays. When wind speeds exceed 40 m.p.h., the steps to the lighthouse are closed for visitors' safety.

Brook O’Connor from Bodega Bay with her scope overlooking the 11 mile-long Great Beach at Point Reyes.

Feeding time at the historic dairy farm near the entrance road that leads to Chimney Rock at Point Reyes National Seashore

David on McClures Beach with the Caldron right-center on the horizon

Seagull footprints in the sand on McClures Beach

The view looking north from McClures Beach

A view near the Caldron, a dangerous stand of rock where several people have died because of the powerful rogue waves that churn and crash on the face of the Caldron.

Because of the low tide and calmer waters on Monday, I was able to climb to the top of the Caldron.
This is a rare view of the gaping mouth in the middle of the Caldron

A rare view looking north as seen from the top of the Caldron

David in the center, carefully walking on the ragged side of the Caldron

Curious Tule Elk watching David and I on the trail as we were leaving McClures Beach

A young Tule Elk that we met on the trail coming from McClures Beach

The watchful eye of another young Tule Elk that we met on the trail coming from McClures Beach

Leaving McClures Beach inside the Tule Elk Reserve after nightfall, we encountered a large buck and his harem crossing the road

Nightfall on the first day of Autumn
The view on the road just before crossing the cattle-guard when leaving the Tule Elk Reserve inside the Point Reyes National Seashore