Central Coast

What was supposed to be a family camping trip became another solo trip for me when Peanut woke up sick the morning we were leaving. Since Daddy-o can't really hike right now, and I had really been looking forward to visiting Big Sur this fall, it made more sense for me to go, even though it's my third solo trip in three weeks. But someone's got to do it, haha.

I made it down there with just enough time to do a 3 mile hike near my campground. Pfeiffer Falls and Valley View trails were fun.

I always appreciate a redwood hike.

And then I drove a few minutes down the coast to find a spot to watch the sunset. The fog blanket was thick!

It made for a beautiful sunset, even if it wasn't over the water how I'd originally expected.

There are so many pullouts along Highway 1, so it was easy to find a spot to pull the van over.

I feel like the van is happy when it gets to go on these adventures :). 

I hung out there until the sun disappeared, and then went back to the campground at the late hour of 5:30--fall camping is a little different than summer!

Seriously, I made a fire, cooked dinner (tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich) and then read by the fire for a really long time. And around 7:45, when my fire was starting to die down, I decided I might as well get ready for bed. I think I actually really like the early nights. I was tucked in bed before 9 and read until I fell asleep around 9:30. It was nice to get a full night of sleep and still be awake before 7.

And I'm glad I didn't get too late of a start because Pfeiffer Beach was first on the list for the day and it was beautiful down there.

Saw Keyhole Arch,

and walked along the beach for awhile.

This beach is also known as the purple sand beach, 

due to the garnet rock erosion from the cliffs above. 

And then, about 30 minutes later, the fog started rolling back in. I was really glad that I got to see it when it was sunny.

I spent a little while trying to sketch some of the gulls that were running around on the beach,

and watching the fog get thicker. And then I got cold and walked back up to the van to make some hot chocolate and go to the next spot:

McWay Falls, which were almost completely hidden in the fog. I got a glimpse of the falls, which are one of only two in California that empty directly into the ocean. It's one of the main things that I wanted to see in the Big Sur area, so it was kind of a bummer that it was so foggy the whole time I was there. I'll have to come back (and bring my family.)

But the Ewoldsen Trail was beautiful.

I didn't do the whole hike, but wandered through the redwoods for awhile.

And found banana slugs! Always a favorite.

I opted to not do the whole thing because after I climbed out of the redwoods, it looked more like the scrubby oak trails we have all over the bay area and I wanted to head back to another trail near the Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground.

The Buzzard Roost Trail was also beautiful, starting along the Big Sur River.

There were a lot of mushrooms along this trail.

Found several stages of the coccora mushroom.

And at the top, there were views of the fog bank over the ocean.

It was pretty up there.

I ran into a guy who is a new mushroom hunter and we stopped to look at a couple along the trail.

And I found SO many banana slugs on this hike. Most were the Slender Banana Slug, which is different than the ones we usually see in the Santa Cruz mountains.

After I got back into the main part of the park, I walked along the river path, checked out the short nature trail, and then spent a little while soaking my feet and sketching mushrooms I'd seen that day. It was really relaxing and I felt like I thoroughly explored the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It's a great park with a nice campground, stores, a lodge with a fire place and a restaurant, and good amenities and trails.

Back at the campground for another evening by the fire, I had visitors. It was getting close to 8 and my fire was almost gone and since I was reading on my kindle, I didn't have any lights on when I heard a little rustling sound and then felt something brush my leg. And when I turned on my flashlight, this racoon went running away from me and climbed the tree! And then he and his friend who came out from the bushes on the other side of me took turns trying to sneak back up to me while I was shining the light on the other one. They were really determined, and I'm not even sure why! I didn't have any food out at that point, but I went ahead and packed my chairs back in the van in case there was some smell on them that might have led to holes being chewed or ripped through them when I went to bed.

On my way back from the bathroom, I saw them fighting over a piece of food in the campsite across the road from me. Luckily I was safe in my bed and didn't even hear them through the van. And I ended up sleeping for over 9 hours! I really think I need to do more fall camping. It's the best.

Tuesday morning, it was time to head home. 

I stopped at the Bixby Bridge to take some pictures,

And then again at Garrapata State Park to do the Bluff hike which was beautiful. 

And it was less foggy so I could actually see the ocean on this one.

The central coast is so rocky--it's just breathtaking.

The water was really pretty right along the coast, too.

And then, one final stop at Moss Landing to look for birds in the marsh near the beach. I found a lot of the usual suspects near the coast--including hundreds of willets, and a couple types of plovers and grebes, and marbled godwits.

It wasn't the family trip we'd planned, and I was honestly missing having people to hike with and hang out at the campground with at night, but I'm glad that I went and would love to revisit that area again. But I will say that we're really spoiled with where we live. The Santa Cruz mountains and north bay have better redwood hikes, and we have our share of rocky beaches and beautiful cliff views, but with more accessible beaches, too. So as pretty as the coast in along that area, I think the places we can get to just an hour or so from our house are even more spectacular.

 

Another CA National Park!

We got to visit one of the most unique national parks and one of our last ones in California: Channel Islands NP! A visit to this park involves a 1+ hour long ferry ride from Ventura, which kicked off the adventure right away.

On the way over, we saw so many schools of dolphins.

They were beautiful! Playing in the surf, following the boat, diving under the bow. We probably saw two or three HUNDRED dolphins that day!

And then, we finally approached Scorpion Cove. The ferry drops you and all your gear at the pier and then it's about 1 mile to the group campground where we were camping for a couple of nights.

Scorpion Canyon has some trees, so we had shade in the campground, unlike most of the surrounding hills on that part of the island.

They aren't native trees, but we appreciated them anyway. Seems like the early settlers LOVED eucalyptus--it's everywhere in CA.

Once we set up our tents, we walked back down to the beach to explore.

Found a cool limpet type I don't think I've seen before.

There are kelp beds all around the pier which make for good snorkeling. We had also rented kayaks so our group took turns snorkeling, kayaking, and hanging out on the beach.

That evening, we went for a hike up one of the bluffs to get to where we could see the sunset.

There were beautiful views everywhere we looked.

Brothers.

This was a fun group to camp with--4 families (or parts of families--not everyone wanted to do some rustic camping.)

We waited around to watch the sun

and the kids made some of us parents really nervous as they played too close to the cliffs for our comfort.

What a great day--and we still had two more!

I got up the next morning and did more exploring of the cliffs and the views.

It was a beautiful morning.

I hiked farther along the coastal bluffs than we had the night before.

And made it to Potato Harbor.

There are so many sea caves along the coast here--more than anywhere else in the world, apparently. We had gone in some the day before, and some people went out early that morning, too.

Back at camp for breakfast! The group sites are pretty basic, but they have three picnic tables and plenty of space to set up many tents.

After breakfast, we went back over to the beach--and saw one of many island foxes on the way! They are so sweet and so not scared of people.

Spent the morning taking turns on the kayaks and with the snorkel gear.

After lunch, a group of us hiked back up to Potato Harbor where I had been in the morning.

Beautiful coastline.

And then, the kids went back out for another sunset hike. I decided that three times up the hill was too much for me (I'd already done over 10 miles of hiking that day.)

The kids took some pictures with my phone up there.

Bean was having fun.

Sunset #2.

They ended up staying up there quite awhile and hiked back in the dark.

It was fun doing this adventure with friends.

And on the third morning I hiked in a different direction--up Scorpion Canyon to bird watch.

It was a really foggy morning, which made for beautiful cobwebs.

So misty that morning.

Along with birds, I found some flowers, too.

The island paintbrush is one of the endemic species on the island.

After we cleaned up camp, we had a few hours left to spend exploring.

Some people hiked, most people went out on the water.

It was fun having kayaks right there, ready to go. We went in more sea caves and looked for Garibaldi and sea stars near the rocks and shoreline. The water was clearer this last day and made it easy to see things, even from up in the kayak.

Such a fun trip!

And we really enjoyed hanging out with this group.

And then, it was time to go. The kayaks we'd rented on the mainland were loaded back on the ferry,

and we said goodbye to the kelp forest.

We had another long ride back.

And not as many dolphins as on the ride out, but we did run into a couple of schools and one of them were feeding--it was fun to see the feeding frenzy.