POINT LOBOS
by Bob Difley

You should be ashamed of yourselves,” the elderly lady in the purple sweat suit and Adidas running shoes admonished the young ranger.

“Ma’am?” the astonished ranger replied, a flush rising in his cheeks.

“Letting those beautiful cypress trees get rusty like that,” she replied, wagging her finger toward Cypress Grove Trail.

The ranger recovered and politely explained that the velvety rust-colored growth on the trees is green algae. It grows on the north, shady side of the cypress, its rust color coming from a pigment called carotene, which also occurs in carrots. After further explaining that the algae did not harm the trees, the lady was quite relieved, and binoculars in hand went off in search of migrating sooty shearwaters.

This “rusty” algae is just one of many unique features of this peninsula headland, sticking like a thumb out into the Pacific, four miles south of Carmel. Point Lobos was originally established to protect the gnarly Monterey Cypress trees that grow naturally here and at only one other location on earth (the other grove across Carmel Bay at Cypress Point)....

The complete article can be found in the current issue of RV Journal, available at quality campgrounds, RV dealers, parts, and service suppliers. Subscriptions are also available for this quarterly publication.

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