Outdoor Adventures

[Tristin]

Thanks! I love cameras and backpacking :D

[FiveSeventyZee]

I love california....haha, i feel like that is the message to take from this. sadly i've been to monterey, big sur and the san louis obispo area (im actually moving down there in a couple months) and i havent seen ANY of the things you guys took pictures of :( probably because im not a hardcore outdoorsman like yous guys. I just go to where my datto can drive me there and back in a day.

 

Sadly, no pics but if anyones ever been to montana de oro or morrow bay (SLO county people) those are some of the most insane views i've ever seen.

 

Next time I get out to the headlands or the beaches around here I'll snag some pics, we have INCREDIBLE views up in the north bay

[Jennifer]

do that!! i jus drove..followed signss :D

[Busta Nut]

Had a great weekend!! :thumbup: Caught fish and shot junk!! Lake Pillsbury in Cali.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[skyblue]

oh man these are great! the gopro vids look like some video game shit. :thumbup: so much fun.

[findmuck]

I woke up that morning around 6 am and packed everything up. I walked back down to the beach and this is what I saw

 

I continued walking for a few hours, taking in the sights and enjoying some home made jerky. I came across a nature preserve sign showing where I was

 

A few miles later, a small lake came into view on the side. This lake feeds from about 12 other small lakes back in the dunes area, and is known as Oso Flaco. The water is all fresh water, so I went for a swim and to rinse off

 

By this time the sand dropped off sharply where the water met it, and the waves practically crashed onto the sand.

 

The southernmost visible point of the coastline from my house is called Point Sal. By 2 pm I was a few miles from Point Sal. Point Sal has a HUGE dune that climbs up into the mountain range, visible in the left of this picture

 

Coming up to Point Sal I came across another small lake that was where the Santa Maria river fed into the Pacific Ocean.

 

I continued up the beach and was amazed at what I saw. The beach and sand the extended for miles east turned into huge sand cliffs. Over the years people had scaled up the cliffs and carved their named into the hard dirt faces. I climbed up and carved my name next to another that read "Mark and Shannon P, 1989"

 

Protruding from these cliffs were the strangest rock formations. Most of them looked like man made walls, while others looked like they would have been a foundation for some type of structure. The passage between these two roack walls led back to the sand cliffs, then cut back and had another small passage/cave that extended down into the ground about 6 feet.

 

A few hundred feet further down the beach, I came across a small cove with the same man made looking rock walls around it. The face was a huge dune, I later found out from my father that back in the 80s you were able to drive all the way down to this cove, and people would try to climb up the dune in their 4x4s.

 

At this point the waves were breaking against cliffs, so I had to head up hill. I made my way up the giant sand dune and along the edge of the cliffs and was blown away at the view. Looking back towards home, I could barely make out where I had started out. Facing south, I saw small and large cliffs along the coast, some of them having small beaches between them that were visible only at low tide.

 

Facing Home

 

South

 

Looking down from a cliff

 

I sat on the edge of a cliff and snacked on some jerky and cornbread for a few hours, then decided to find a good place to set up camp. I hiked down to one of the small cliff ledges to the south and found a grassy area to set up the tent at. I set up the tent on the green ledge to the left/middle of this photo (where you can see people fishing)

 

By this time my phone had died from taking pictures, so I did not get any more pictures from that point. This time I staked down the corners of my tent, built a small fire, and had a good nights sleep. The feeling of having a 40 foot cliff above you, a 20 foot drop below you, and waves crashing underneath was incredible, I cant even begin to describe it. I never felt more at peace in my life.

 

I awoke the next morning very early and started my trip back home. I made it down Point Sal about a mile up the beach when I came across a guy fishing. I stopped for a while and chatted, and ended up trading some of my home made jerky for a fish he had caught a few minutes earlier, a barred surfperch. While talking to the man, I learned that he had immigrated here from Cozumel, Mexico after retiring. He told me he spends every morning fishing, then takes his catch home to his wife, who does all of the gardening and farming. They live in a small house in the hills, with no running water or electricity, and provide all of their own food by fishing, hunting, and farming. He invited me to fish with him, telling me that he is there every morning at 4 am, and that I was welcome at his house anytime. I thanked the man for the fish and started walking. A few miles later I found a nice spot out of the wind and built a small fire and placed a large rock in the center. I cleaned and gutted the fish and cooked it on the rock once it was hot. It was great tasting considering I cooked it with drift wood and a rock.

 

I was tired of walking and wanted to get home and take a hot shower as soon as possible. I decided to walk straight home and not camp out another night, and ended up getting into town around 10 PM. I took a nice hot shower and went straight to bed, and ended up sleeping for 14 hours.

 

I plan on going out again on the same course, but this time I plan to go further south into what is known as Paradise Beach. I also plan on meeting the fisherman I met and seeing how he lives his life from day to day, which will be a whole other post for me.

I really want to do this!