Salt Point State Park, CA

This past week my girlfriend Jazmine and I took a nice day trip to Salt Point State Park which is about 2 hours north of San Francisco. This was much needed since the pandemic hit we have not been able to go to our usual places and hiking is the only way to social distance and stay safe. The drive to the park was very relaxing it had been at least a year since I came this way and I missed driving on highway one. I love the way the highway twists and loops through the mountainside almost every turn has some dramatic view of the ocean. The drive here although relaxing is a little exhausting but once we made it to the park it was worth the trek. The one downside of going during a pandemic was that the visitor center was closed and they park for safety reasons were not giving maps of the park. This was something I was not expecting since my girlfriend tends to rely on the park map to get a layout park and what hikes to take for the day. We ended up wandering into the park since we had zero cell phone reception that did not kill the fun it still a cool mini-adventure. I loaded my Pentax K1000 with a roll of Ilford Delta 100 (professional) this film after some research I discovered was more for portrait photography. However, I read some forums that said this film works extremely well in gloomy weather since this area is always gloomy I took the jump and decided to try it out. I shot this film at box speed which is 100 (ISO) there was a lot of soft light so the film performed pretty well. I usually do not shoot black and white films with lower ISO I always felt they would limit what I can photograph but this film exceeded my expectations.

Since Jazmine and I did not know this park we relied on the maps around the park which were not the best. We started hiking on the first trail that was right off the parking lot where we parked. The park offers dramatic ocean views and steep drops into the ocean. The one thing I found really cool about this park was the trails that lead down to the ocean. The visitor center at this park is incredible however it was closed but the A-Frame gave this place a really appearance especially with the ocean as the backdrop

After we passed the visitor center we continued trekking through the park until we encountered a trail leading down to the beach. The beaches here do not have the typical soft sand instead it’s filled with rocks, ranging from small to massive. The ocean on this of the park was calming and in the distance I was able to see seals coming up for air.

After relaxing here for about 20 minutes we headed back to the main trail which looked like a fire road until we encountered another trail that went through a tall grass field straight to the ocean cliffs. I personally do not like going through areas like this especially since it’s tick season. In the past, I have had a tick or two latch on to me and the process of taking these off is not fun. Jazmine has also had her run-in with ticks so we both know the feeling of being eaten by these pests. I tucked my socks over my pants and rolled by sleeves so if a tick were to jump my it would be difficult to crawl anywhere. This trail offered really cool views of the ocean and all the hidden coves right below our feet.

After hiking through the tall grass for about 20 minutes we reached a dead end, I don’t think this was a trail that was not fully maintained or it must have been a less hiked trail so over the last few months the path was blocked by all the growth. We had no choice but to head back to the parking lot and find another trail. There is something about walking through the tall grass that is erie it always reminds me of the movies where there is something watching ready to grab me as I walk by and drag me into the fields.

After getting back to the parking lot we ended up doing an easy 0.48-mile hike that wrapped around the other side of the park. The ocean on this side was very intense the waves would smash against the rocks in the far distance. It provided a completely different feeling the one thing I loved about this area was the trails that lead down to the rocky shore. There was plenty of tide pools and climbable rocks which made the area fun to explore the rocks on this side were very alien. They had large holes in them and they looked very strange. After exploring the area for a little bit Jazmine and I sat on the rocks and watched the sea lions in the distance. The sound of the roaring waves was soothing since it had been a while that we experienced the ocean.

We would definitely come here again we just wish we knew the trails we should have done some research before coming. Ilford Delta 100 did a great job capturing the park, I really liked how clean the images came out there is not much noise and the grain on the film is smooth. I would definitely keep this film in my bag for a gloomy day at the beach. I don’t think I would use this film for street photography I really like to push my film for grain and contrast. This film however handles nature fairly well the grain is fine and the images look clean bright.