CAPE MENDOCINO LIGHTHOUSE
Cape Mendocino, California
I'll tell you this, I had to trespass to see this 'lighthouse'. And it isn't near a town at all. Just out there on some of the most pristine coastline I have ever seen. Unspoiled by human population. There is no old tower there anymore. Just the slab it was bolted to and that is grown over by grass. Higher up on a small tableau is this post with the rotating beacon, a light on a stick. Kinda how the first lights were done, they hung a lantern on a post. Now we are back to that, except with electricity and modern optics. Who needs a house, eh? Well let me tell you, it isn't as romantic but if you went out to Cape Mendocino, you would agree that this was one desolate place where few would want to live so isolated. And windy, seriously windy. You can lean way out over the lip of the slope that leads up to the post with a light, so that if the wind weren't blowing, you'd fall down. All you have to do is wear a coat that opens. Grab the ends and hold them out so they catch the wind and it holds you suspended in space, feet still touching the ground of course, but definitely more than 45 degrees over. Almost like you're flying, there's the tension of constantly falling on over yet constantly being pushed back up by the wind.
OF THE MOUNTAINS
John B Caddell
Copyright 2001