Afternoon at Doran Beach

My neighborhood. I walk on that beach every few days. The sand behind my avatar is Doran beach sand...

@NedL Nice! we try to make it out there at least once a month during the summer. It's a little more difficult when school is in session, but we're in Petaluma, so it's not a far drive. Don't be surprised to see me (with a camera) strolling the beach there there mid-late Sunday afternoons (our most common time). I love taking photos of the sand patterns from the surf, so I go strolling looking for interesting patterns that I think might make a good print.

That dog in my avatar is "Mango". She's got a bad hip and a bad knee so for the past 10 years I've mostly been walking on that beach. Before we had her, I almost always went to beaches a little further North ( there are some real gems ), or Pinnacle Gulch, which is the next beach to the South. If you're up for a little longer hike, there's a place you can park up near the golf course ( in the development just South of Doran ). From there you can walk to the Shorttail gulch trail, take it down to the beach and walk North on the beach to the Pinnacle Gulch trail which takes you back to your car. Check to make sure it won't be high tide before you go. We live out between Petaluma and Sebastopol... one of the very best things about living here is that Doran beach is 22 minutes away! Here's a sand pattern I used for APUG MSA at Doran. I usually avoid weekends, often I have the entire beach completely to myself. October and November can be the very best... sometimes even shorts and tee shirt weather, and then early spring. This time of year it's often windy in the afternoons. BTW a good thing to do is check this website first... there are lots of days when it seems like it's going to be too windy at the beach, but it's fine, and of course there are some days when everything is getting sandblasted! Enjoy

PS. I've heard it's possible to get all the way South to the mouth of the Estero from Shorttail gulch at very low tides. Seems a bit risky to me and I've never tried to go that far ( afraid of getting trapped ), but I have gone a fair ways South and the fishing is good that way if you are into that... and the scenery is spectacular.

@NedL That's a great sand pattern! I got your PM, I'll keep an eye on the website. This photo (above) unfortunately we had sandblast wind happening that day. School starts this upcoming week, so we probably won't be out again until sometime mid-late September, as school takes up a lot of time. It's really difficult to make it out there during the week for us, and we've found that late Sunday is usually not particularly busy, so that's when we most often go, unless it's a holiday weekend, then it doesn't matter, it'll be busy.

I'll check out the other beaches, though I might have to ditch the fam for that as they really just want to go play in the sand and water, and my wife really loves just sitting there watching the waves and soaking up some sun, if it's out. I'm the roamer of the bunch. Doran is just nice because it has facilities, which when you have kids in tow, is awfully handy, that and it tends to be a fair amount cleaner than the other beaches that have free access.