Thursday, September 27, 2012

Treasure Hunting Mendocino California.

 
 
I have spent the last few weeks bouncing up and down the coast of Mendocino searching for naturally polished Abalone pieces.  This is where I find most of my Abalone that I use to make my jewelry and hanging sculptures.  It is a building time for me.  To walk endless coastal trails, climb down treacherous sea cliffs, rock hop over large and small boulders that line these coastal edges.  Many time I would gear up and snorkel around the sea caves and through the kelp forest over 20 feet deep.  I decided this year not to be so aggressive snorkeling and diving for the abalone I saw in the water.  The reason for this was many times the large heavy shell would serve as a mini reef for small ocean creatures.  That meant I had to scrape them all off and hope they survived, or if I saw the shell wasn't in good shape I felt bad about pulling it from its naturally anchored ocean floor spot.  For Karma sake, I was particularly careful this year not to be destructive.   
Now if the the treasure hunting was bountiful, I would then have to climb back up a steep rocky cliff with an extra 25 pounds.  Its quite an exhilarating and dangerous task.  I love it. I get stronger each day and can feel my muscles being execised.
This year I was blessed with finding a good size load of abalone pieces to use for my art.
There is a lot of activity along the coast here with abalone divers, kyacking, hikers, spear fish divers, and fishing.  
 
 
 
 
Typically, I will set my magic blanket out on the beach,  make jewelry 3 days a week, and treasure hunt the other 4 days a week.  This year I have been blessed with the possibility of finding treasure and selling treasure too.  Its an amazing coastal landscape with a few small hip towns scattered along highway 1.  Each town has a health food co-op and a combination of locals and tourist buzzing around the place.  I say health food co-op, because it means a lot to me.  If a town doesn't have one, then it indicates to me I probably don't want to be there.   You see these health focused places are a good location to explore and connect with like minded people.  These people who chose health, as a way of life, are on a similar page in the great book of life, as I am on. Also a co-op lets me know there is local consciousness with farming, crafting, wild foraging, creating, etc.... 
Everyplace has some of these things I just mentioned, however, I am looking for those special places that shine with it. 
 



Magic blanket set up.  Mini market I use to support myself.
 
 
I spent around 2 weeks in the area, but was ready to go after this.  Why you may ask?,  because even though its amazing, its mostly foggy and cloudy.  You will get around 3 hours of sunshine a day, on average, and some days not even that.  The occasionally sunny day pops up, but even then its still pretty cool, not the best weather to strip down to your bare skin in.  I pretty much know now, if there was still a question in my mind, that I need lots of sunshine.  Lots of nutrients I absorb from the sunshine.  Its great to take breaks from it like anything, but much longer than a few weeks is bad for my health. 
This section of the west coast was really the best ever for me.  Abalone hunting, kayaking, sea salt discovery, hiking, organic farming, and the magic blanket being a success, was an abundance of blessings.
 
Thank You Great Spirit & To All  My Relations !    
 
I decided to go west from here, towards Willitts California.  The heart of Mendocino County.  I knew the sun would be shinning and the temperature would get warmer. 
 
Some great pictures I took while in this area.     
        
 
Powerful rock formations that reveal the earths cycle of life. 
 

Major driftwood hunting natural beach.
 
 

Hidden coves full of abolonie


Dakota recovering after a long hike along a sea cliff.
 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Jayson, I came across your blog from Glenn Morrisette's post about you on ToSimplify.net - and I just finished reading every post! Your thoughts on health and food and nature are completely inspiring, and I am just blown away by your joyfulness. Thank you for sharing your travels and for describing in such great detail the wonderful places you've been exploring.

    I'm in San Diego and saving to buy a van and do what you're doing by next April. I plan to visit every place you've written about and soak in every pool and spring. I've wanted to do this since I was a teenager (I'm 66 now) and I finally realized I'd better get a move on or it's not going to happen.

    Your newest fan,
    LaVonne
    http://completeflake.com

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  2. I lived on the coast for some years and you are so right about the fog and chill on that beautiful coast, it can be very difficult to adjust to the lack of warmth and sunshine. But the fog season is summer. We are now heading towards fall/winter which is much sunnier except for the rain storms. October is usually the warmest and sunniest month of all so you may want to linger near the coast for a while. In general I like to do the coast in winter and the Sierras in the summer.

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  4. Nice post. Actually coastal area is the best place for the treasure hunter as the sea is the most mysterious and full of treasures. Sunshine coast can be the best place if you are hunting for beauty of nature. Find The Treasure Sunshine Coast with a perfect guide.

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