My brother Paul told me he would be diving out of Gerstle Cove this weekend, so I drove up to watch and to do a kayak run. For those of you who missed or forgot the previous story: On a previous trip past Fisk Mill Cove in the kayak, I saw a small Obelisk (a narrow stone pillar) from the water. Marty and I spent a day wandering up and down the Fisk Mill Cove area on land, but were unable to find it. I planned on finding the Lost Obelisk from the water again so I could go find out what it is all about.
As I drove past Stillwater Cove, I saw Paul getting his stuff out of his car. Turns out the Gerstle Cove dive was Saturday, and I missed it. Oh well, while he was diving in Stillwater Cove, (only 4 miles south of Gerstle) I could still do the 4 mile run from Gerstle Cove to Horseshoe cove. We arranged to meet for lunch. The wind had been bothersome all night long, and the swells at sea were 7 feet this morning, so I was a little anxious. But the air was calm when I got in the water at Gerstle Cove. I considered getting in at Stump Beach and cutting 1.5 miles off of my trip (each way) but decided that I'd rather have a safe harbor to launch and land in.
Gerstle Cove was very calm and it was easy to get into the water. Like the last several times I paddled in these waters, once out of the cove the waves broke into the rocky shoreline and made me glad to stay away from the shore. This was the memorial weekend, however, so I saw Abalone divers close to shore all day long. And people tell me that I am crazy for being where I am in this kayak. When I got to Stump Beach, it looked very calm. If this is 7 foot swells, I must have gone in and out of here in 14 foot swells a few times before. That was back in the days that I didn't have a weather radio, the weather underground telnet site, or the NOAA Web page to tell me what the waves were doing before I drove out there. Stump Beach was so calm, that I surfed in to shore and landed to take a picture and paddled back out again.
I expected to find the obelisk somewhere on the next stretch of shore, called Fisk Mill Cove. (What is a Fisk, and why do you mill it?) But it was early in the morning, and the Sun was creating a lot of glare off the water and the early morning mist. I decided to paddle out to sea straight to the next point, explore Horseshoe Cove, and come close to shore on the trip back. Then when I find the Obelisk, I'll be able to photograph it from the water. I could also photograph Stump Beach from out to sea.
I have been past Horseshoe Cove several times, but never gone inside to explore. This cove is difficult to get to from the road, but of course there were Abalone divers lining the beaches this day. The rocky cliffs lining the cove are very pretty, including one bluff where the exposed underlying rock had some bright red lichen growing on it. It made the cliff look like some immense animal that had been broken in two and washed up on shore to bleed. A dire warning to the Abalone divers, which they did not heed of course.
When I came back down through Fisk Mill Cove close to shore, I finally saw the top of the Obelisk, sticking above the bluff top. Last time I saw it, the base was visible, so I must have seen it from farther out. I took a few pictures as evidence, since several people have accused me of making it up. It was at the top of the bluff, only a few hundred meters north of where Marty and I sat on the beach tide pooling the day we went hunting for the Obelisk. We had been unable to find a trail across a small creek, and turned back. I considered landing at the beach and charging up to investigate. However, I wanted to get back to Paul for lunch, and then I could come back in more comfortable clothing.
As I headed back to my safe harbor, the wind finally came up and blew whitecaps off the tops of all the swells. Unfortunately the wind was blowing west, so I was paddling across the wind with spray blowing off my right paddle onto my side. Fortunately the waves were going my way, so it was a fairly rapid trip, if a little tiring. Again I wished that I had gotten in the water at Stump Beach, since I'd be out by now if I had. But soon I landed at Gerstle Cove with no problems, and drove off to meet Paul. I was late, it was 1:00pm, so Paul was already gearing up to do another dive. He was going on a spear fishing expedition with some guys from his class. Since this fishing expedition was supposed to be only 40 minutes or so, I waited for them to come back (with a large rock cod) and then Paul went with me to find the Obelisk. We drove to the Fisk Mill Cove parking lot, and walked down the trail, stopping to climb up Sentinel Rock for the view. Paul predicted that the Obelisk would turn out to be an old refrigerator, or a broken off telephone pole. We turned right at a fork in the trail that lead down to the small creek Marty and I had not crossed. But the trail ended at the creek, and the brambles on the other side prevented us from getting up the other side. Back to the beach trail, we found another trail forking off to the creek, and this one had a beaten trail going up the other side. After wandering the long way around a meadow, we found the Obelisk:
It is a tombstone, only 2 meters tall, with an inscribed base under the tall obelisk part. The top is flat, and I wonder if it used to have a pyramidal cap on it. There are a few other tombstone bases hidden in the grass nearby, but they were very weathered. One looked like it also used to have an obelisk of its own, but had been broken off and removed long ago. The base of the Obelisk I saw from the water had inscriptions on two of its sides.
One side reads:
Clara Bell only daughter of Andrew J and Clara S Fisk born February 25 1874 died August 24 1874 Aged 5 months 29 days Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven
Andrew J Fisk born March 10 1832 died August 4 1874 Aged 42 years 4 months & 14 days Peacefully sleep, beloved one Rest from your toil, your labor is done