Bolinas

We wake up these days in a place that is not home, but could be. We’re surrounded by towering eucalyptus at the edge of a community essentially untouched by development.  Here the streets are narrow and rough, more like alleys, with generous speed bumps in the form of potholes.  There are no stop signs. Some homes seem little more than shacks, but they sell for millions or multi millions because of where they sit, here at the tip of a small peninsula, a mere 15 crow miles northwest of San Francisco, in a small California town called Bolinas.

About 100 ft north of our camper is the south boundary of Point Reyes National Seashore.  We can pick up a trail in the park, walk west through grasslands for less than 100 yards, and find ourselves atop a 200 ft cliff and on the edge of the continent, the rolling blue canvas of the Pacific spreading out below. On clear mornings we can easily see the Farallon Islands 30 miles offshore.  Between them and us is a migration corridor used by whales traveling from the Gulf of Alaska to their wintering and calving  grounds in the Baha. Yesterday we saw dozens making their way south. There are cormorants flying, and gulls, sometimes pelicans. Harbor seals bob about in the swells, and pull themselves onto exposed reefs at low tide. Beneath us on the beach lies the skeletal remains of a blue whale washed ashore after being struck and killed by a container ship. Low tide presents an expansive shale reef, the largest on the continent, it's low ridges oriented parallel to shore, littered with tide pools, blotched with strands of kelp and seaweed.

On the east edge of town is a narrow slit where tides race through to feed the Bolinas Lagoon, a 3 mile long undeveloped estuary.  Now, during winter, it proves itself a popular stopover for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, and we've made multiple trips to view and enjoy.  (To date we've seen buffleheads, goldeneyes, pintails, green winged teal, common mergansers, surf scoters, American and Eurasian wigeons, some in rafts of hundreds. Also cormorants, egrets, kingfishers, avocets, long billed curlew and marbled godwits.)

If you draw a line northwest from the lagoon it will eventually pass through the center of Tomales Bay. The line follows the infamous San Andreas Fault. Geologically speaking, Bolinas lies on the Pacific Plate, setting it apart from the Bay Area and the bulk of the US. At least one local uses this fact to explain the quirky uniqueness of the Bolinas community.

Bolinas boasts a population of 1600. The town district is well equipped to provide essentials from groceries to hardware and includes a library, post office, museum, cafe and saloon. The buildings appear unchanged for decades, inside and out, and that is by choice. Residents have historically fought to keep this quiet community quaint and out of public view. To curb development, no new water meters are issued, so you might own a parcel of land but cannot have water run to it. (Recently a fire destroyed a home that was not rebuilt so the rights to the water meter were auctioned off and brought $400,000.)  The system has worked to curtail development but has the consequence of driving real estate prices beyond the reach of most. The city was originally designed to be a San Francisco subdivision, and a local newspaper actually gave away building lots with new subscriptions in an effort to attract people to the area.

It is a human tendency to look for good when traveling. Communities visited for the first time can seem exceptionally friendly and appealing because as travelers we unconsciously look for the best in people and places.  In this regard Bolinas has delivered handsomely. Most residents are quick to greet us, sometimes waving enthusiastically from a distance, and seem more likely to remember our names once introduced. Around New Years I was in line at the grocery behind a rastafarian who, by appearance, could have been a relative of Morgan Freeman. As he turned from the counter our eyes met and with a broad smile he said “It's good to see you!” It struck me as much more personal and genuine than a mere “hello”, and reinforced a growing confidence that Bolinas folks are palpably friendly and helpful. Adding to an openly generous and trustworthy attitude is a downtown used bookstore that lets the buyer choose the price, a 24 hour well stocked produce stand operating on the honor system, and a free store where residents take any unwanted item to be given away.

Maybe all this goodness has some political basis. This is the land of liberal progressives. Here, living with an environmental ethic can be safely assumed and an understanding of the impending fate of the planet a given.

We were recently invited to a gathering around a campfire where thoughtful area scholars reflected on a range of topics focused on personal and planetary health. It was a powerful and strangely hopeful evening, not offering encouragement that we might avoid the imminent pain and devastation of a climate changed earth, but that there will be survivors who embrace the spiritual and are tooled with the technology to find a way forward building a truly sustainable and just society.

Maybe that explains a lot of what we've seen and experienced here. Maybe it's the simple product of being among people elevated by hope who embrace science and awareness and radiate a confidence that while our world will soon be radically changed, it will go on, and ultimately be a better place.

Thank you, Bolinas.