Ken L.
Yelp
No one's written anything about this? I'll gladly be the first then.
It's fantastic. Go see it!
There. I'm done. :D
Okay, okay, fine, here's more. A lot more. The "bowling balls" are these odd geological formations form ball-shaped boulders that are curiously in many rows. Google this beach and see the images for yourself. It's very unusual, and I think totally cool looking.
Now, I'm gonna give you the info that I wish I had when I visited.
1. How you get there:
The trailhead is at the intersection of Hwy. 1 and Schooner Gulch Road on (of course) the ocean side of the Hwy 1. It's a small dirt lot with a sign that says "Please park facing south" or words to that effect. There are two trails there, one to the south that goes down to Schooner Gulch, and another north trail that goes to Bowling Ball Beach. You want the north one.
2. How you get there, part deux:
After walking on a trail through tall grass and some trees, you go down some steps. And this is where it gets tricky. The last, I don't know, maybe 15 feet of descent is nearly vertical. There are steps that are tied there by cable and are very strong, but if you're not expecting it, as was the case with me while I was carrying a bunch of photography equipment, it can be a little tricky. So you go down this, and afterwards, you can either slip and slide on the smooth stones or walk on a very large log on balance beam style while you are about four feet or so over the smooth rocks. I'll pick the balance beam log every time. As you can probably guess, this is probably not a great idea for small children, the elderly, or anybody with mobility issues. Or people weighed down with lots of photographic equipment. :D
3. How you get there, part trois:
I don't know why I'm numbering things like this. I don't even speak French. Anyway, after this, you walk north. For you directionally challenged, that means you take a right and walk farther away from San Francisco and toward Fort Bragg. :D The bowling ball formations are probably about 2/10ths of a mile, or maybe a five or ten minute walk along the beach.
4. Go during low tide:
You cannot see the bowling ball formations during high tide. Consider checking the tides online. When I was there, low tide was early morning, and high tide was around 11:30am or noon, with another high tide again around 11:00pm. You want low tide. They're especially weird looking when it's really low tide.
5. It's easy to get your camera wet here!!
Salt water is toxic to your digital camera, and around the bowling ball formations, the water can suddenly splash up high unpredictably because of the odd smooth formations. I was taking long exposure photos with my Nikon DSLR - AND I had a plastic bag around the camera, although apparently not good enough. Splaaaaaaaaash!!! I suddenly got soaked even though the wave was just as small as all the other ones, and my camera got some drops on it as well despite having a plastic bag around most of it. I immediately wiped off the camera, and kept shooting. A little while later, my camera began acting bizarrely. To make a long story short, it's hosed, and I didn't drop it or even have it get completely nailed by a wave. It was wet, sure, but in droplets. Be careful there. It's the only beach I've ever gotten my camera wet, as I'm usually quite careful. I got some lovely long exposure photos of the water looking very ethereal, gliding around the smooth stones, but they're now very expensive photos.
6. Blind intersection where you are parked:
When you pull out of the dirt parking lot, be very careful. People heading south cannot see you. You should also head south for a short while and then turn around elsewhere if you wish to drive north. And in fact, I believe there's a No U-Turn" sign somewhere around there anyway. But sign or no, I would recommend not doing it.
P.S. As it turns out, I made several mistakes with the camera. I should have never turned it back on, and gone immediately to the car, opened everything on the camera and turned the vents on it, then immediately gone and put it in a bag of rice or dessicant to absorb the moisture, which I did do a couple of hours later after discovering the error of my ways. That said, the camera store I spoke to on the phone said that it's most likely hosed anyway. Some people have reported some success in taking the camera completely apart and washing each part carefully with distilled water, but again, I'm finding all this out after the fact.
So now you've gotten lots of information on Bowling Ball Beach and how to care for your saltwater-damaged digital camera.
