Montaña de Oro

Stop #2 in our Spring Break travels was another new to us place, at least in terms of camping. We have visited Montaña de Oro for day trips from a home base at Morro Bay State Park. As luck would have it, I discovered that several Alto friends were also going to be staying there at the same time! This is always my favorite thing. On our way down, we stopped for shopping at a Safeway in King City and were stocked and ready for the rest of the trip.

We pulled in after 3 and found our site to be nice and private with good solar potential. Richard was ready to get his “ya-ya’s” out after a long drive and suggested a four and half mile hike up to the top of a peak and back. We know Richard has oodles of energy, like one of those cattle herding dogs who go crazy if they don’t get in daily runs. I’m just going to go ahead and diagnose him. I think he’s ADHD with out so much of the A, but definitely the H. He was surprised I was not up for a 1200 foot peak hike after driving five hours, but I was up for a nice, level bluff hike of about the same distance. We continue to work on our communication skills as they pertain to wildly different physical needs. The good news is we both appreciate the other’s perspective and recognize the advantages to sort of keeping our own natures in check.

Weather was sort of iffy the next day, but we ventured out onto the Sand Dunes Trail with Hazard Reef happening somewhere in the middle. The trail wasn’t rated super highly, which was confusing, until it wasn’t. Before you drop down to the beach at Hazard Reef, the trail going to the left out of a parking area gets smaller and harder to avoid the Poison Oak. We doubled back on that one. Going to the right, you go steeply down some stairs until it hits the wet and creeky bottom. There used to be a boardwalk here, but it has long since fallen apart. They have made some attempts to put short boardwalk runs down, but then they just gave up and you have to stay out of the water using rocks that get farther apart as you go. We bailed on that too once we determined the spans of rocks to be a guarantee of wet shoes.

We climbed back up the stairs, made our way through an understory of low trees, and connected back up with the other trail after it has pushed through the poisonous pass. Finally, we arrived at the steep descent down a sandy dune to get to the beach. One big jump over a muddy creek crossing and we had earned some spectacular beach views. Here we stopped and had lunch with the secluded beach all to ourselves. Within a few minutes though, a surfer came casually meandering through, surfboard in hand, looking unscathed and unflustered by any trail difficulties. We asked him if he had traversed the water crossing and he seemed confused. It turns out there is a way easier way to get down to the beach if you take a different trail from the road. Oh well.

Our return back met with a muddy fail when Richard took a misstep over the creek crossing. His shoe and sock got fully buried and he had to hike the rest of the way squishy and uncomfortable. We made it back almost in time to get under a downpour. We heard from our friends that some got completely caught out. It was short lived and blue skies followed, so we got Richard other shoes and headed over to say hi and catch up with Marcy, Steve, Rich, and Kathy. They also had Altoiste friends Amy and Greg staying in another part of the campground. We made plans together to hike up to Valencia Peak the next day and get out to Point Bouchon on Thursday. All good!

I love when things just organically work out perfectly. Our group hike up to Valencia Peak was exactly that. Richard and Steve represented the over achievers who peeled off and headed up the trail quickly, stopping only to take pictures of butterflies, expertly identified by Steve, the famous “Butterfly Guy.” Marcy and Kathy took the trail at an expected, grade level appropriate, pace, while Rich and I happily represented the intervention group. Rich has overcome a lot of health challenges, but he does just fine with a relaxed tempo and breaks now and then. I was thrilled to slow the hell down and chat, unpressed for time and able to take my fill of flower pictures without holding back the herding dog. I took a great picture of Rich where you can see Marcy and Kathy half way up the final climb, with Richard and Steve waving from the top. This is differentiation at its finest.

We had just enough time on the day to ride over to Los Osos and go to a bakery recommended by Marcy as having the best apricot tea cakes she’s ever had, aside from the ones her grandmother made. That’s a throw down you can’t pass up. Sure enough, Carlock’s Bakery has a dizzying array of delectable treats. And I’m no expert on tea cakes, but damn these were good. We got the apricot and a raspberry, just to see. Yep, both checked out. You must go there if you are in the area.

On Thursday we did the Point Buchon Trail together. I say together because we all arranged to get to the trailhead early and at the same time. But actually, Richard and I ended up peeling off and going ahead to get to the end. There were a lot of reasons for this, which we analyzed during and after the hike. I think we’ve uncovered some important things here. First, yes Richard definitely needs to get that cow dog energy out in order to be regulated. When he’s not regulated, logistics are really stressful for him. For this trail, he was worried the small parking area would fill up. Then he was worried about whether we would all get in before they cut off the entry permits (the trail is limited to 275 per day). And then he was focused on the end point which was four miles one way. This all made him antsy and needing to move. In hindsight (which by the way, Richard achieved while he was speed hiking up the Valencia Peak trail again the next morning while I was leisurely having my coffee in bed), if he had just walked the bluff trail to the parking area first thing in the morning, it would have all been fine. He would have gotten regulated, seen the parking lot had plenty of space, and that there was no risk of running out of entry permits. He could then have leisurely strolled with no end goal. I’m assuming everyone was fine with us tearing off ahead, but all of this is good to learn as we go.

We joined in a very fun happy hour by the campfire at Marcy and Steve’s site, and by that time, I was too tired to think about making dinner. Instead, we drove into town and got dinner out at Los Cabos. I had beef enchiladas and Richard had mole chicken enchiladas. Paired with rice and pinto beans, all was excellent.

We both really liked this park. We also love the state park closer to town, but both places have very different feels. This one is more laid back and chill for sure. And there are a lot more trails right out of the campground. But the services are located in Morro Bay. That is where the dump is, and the cell service, and hookups if you can get them, plus proximity to all the restaurants and ice cream you could ever want. I like how this trip worked out though, as we will be wrapping up there. I do want a do over some day of the Point Buchon Trail. It is gorgeous there and I’d like to try it when we can take it a little slower. Lessons learned. You know it’s a good trip when you discover a new bakery, and perhaps a new diagnosis.

Total miles from Pfeiffer Big Sur: 182.7, 17.5 mpg, 6 hours 8 min (with shopping stop). Site 16, really nice. No hookups. No dump. Good solar, just hits a bar of service, sometimes. Wifi at the Spooner House or out on the bluffs, or up a trail. Potable water available from tanks. Vault toilets, but clean and nice, as vault toilets go.