Morro Bay

Wednesday & Thursday, September 8/9 - On our drive to Morro Bay we stopped in Paso, to get groceries and it was 103 degrees.  It was only a 40 minute drive to Morro Bay, and as we headed that way, we watched the car thermometer move down one degree about every mile closer we got.  Once we got to the campground it was 64 degrees.  Crazy that there can be such a temperature difference in such a short distance away.  The campground is basically a parking lot, right next to the beach, and it's just 10 minutes from downtown Morro Bay, which is a really cute sleepy little town.  Wednesday night when we got in, Morro rock (which is an iconic rock in the middle of the bay) wasn't visible due to all the fog. We walked in the fog on the beach and found bunches of sand dollars.  Yay, we were able to sleep without the air conditioning!  Thursday morning we woke up to more fog and we were wondering if we would get to see Morro Rock while we were here. We did some laundry and on our way back the fog broke and there it was!  We decided to have lunch on the beach, and Kev went for a swim (the ocean was 64 degrees, brrr...not for me).  In the afternoon we went to Morro Bay State Park golf course, and Kev played 9 holes, while I caddied for him.  It's a pretty gorgeous golf course.  When we got back to the campground Morro Rock was visible!  There is a bike path into town so we went for a bike ride after dinner, then grabbed our chairs and headed to the beach for a beautiful sunset, complete with dolphins frolicking and surfers surfing. 

walk to the beach

lots of sand dollars

our first view of Morro Rock

Kev goes for a swim

9th hole at Morro Bay SP golf course...love the ocean view

Yay, view of the rock from our campsite

Our parking lot campsite

Bike ride after dinner

Morro Rock in the distance

Crazy clouds

View of our campground and Tiny from our bike ride

The drive into the campground

Last Day at Pinnacles and onto Morro Bay

 Wednesday September 8 - We decided to cancel 2 camping nights at Pinnacles and spend our last two nights before getting to the vineyard at Morro Strand State Beach.  So we got up at 5:30 to hit the trail before the heat. We hiked up the High Peaks Trail, which was steep and narrow, with a few areas with cut out steps in the rock with a metal handrail to keep you from falling off the cliff.  We decided it was a top 10 hike.  We got a shaded spot pretty high up and stopped for a drink and right in front of us, sitting in a tree, was condor #21.  Pinnacles has been involved in reintroducing condors into the wild and usually have about 27 condors at any one time, at the park.  They are all tagged so that the rangers can track them and see how they are doing.  We looked up #21 on condorspotter.com and found he was born at a zoo in Oregon 3 years ago, his name is Whiskey Papa.  We sat there for 30 minutes hoping he would decide to fly away, but he didn't. So glad we got to see a condor up close before leaving Pinnacles, and we will definitely come back some time.

nice view of the east entrance, part way up the high peaks trail

scary steps

condor #21

  

Drive to Pinnacles National Park (Hell)

 Monday September 6 - We woke up to a clear day in Mendocino and enjoyed an early morning walk along the cliffs and through town.  It's a 5 hour drive to Pinnacles, but the windy roads take a lot of extra time, and it's Labor Day, so we thought we'd head out early to beat the crowds heading back to San Francisco (which we have to drive through).  

can't get enough of the flowers

breakfast view 

another windy road

We got to Pinnacles around 1:30 and it felt like we were visiting hell.  We went from a high of 65 in Mendocino to full on 102.  We had to run our air conditioner for the first time this trip and it had trouble keeping up.  Once the sun went down, it cooled off and by 5 AM it was chilly and we needed an extra blanket.  

Tuesday, September 7 - We left for a hike around 8:00, trying to beat the heat (although, we should have left at 6:30 to truly beat the heat).  We drove to Bear Gulch and hiked to the Bear Gulch Cave Trail.  There are several caves at Pinnacles and they are called Talus caves, which are different from caves that are under the ground because they are are formed from boulders falling into steep canyons.  It was a fun hike, requiring flashlights and there were a few spots where we had to crawl.  We were lucky enough to have the whole cave to ourselves.  When we came out the other side of the cave there was a reservoir that we sat and enjoyed some water and a view.  We didn't have enough time to hike the high peaks trail (which would have added another 3 miles, straight up the mountain), as it's recommended to be off the trail in between 12-5, as it's too hot.  So we decided to hike about a half an hour up and then turn around.  There were nice views, and we're thinking about getting up early tomorrow to do it before we leave for Morro Bay.

 

Nice hike, while it's cool

The hike gets a little tight at points

We need our head lamps

It's dark in here

Hope the rock doesn't drop on Kev

Bear Gulch Reservoir

We're not going to make it to the top today

 

Meandering to Mendocino

 Saturday, September 4 - The next 3 nights we had reservations at Lassen Volcanic National Park, but these reservations were cancelled due to fire.  Of course this was Labor Day weekend, so it was going to be hard to find reservations somewhere else at such late notice.  We had heard on our Coachmen Nova Facebook Group page that the town of Mendocino was allowing camping overnight on the streets, as a way to get people to come and spend money there.  We weren't sure if it was true, but decided to head that way.  But first we were going to meander to get there.  We did a few last hikes in Redwood National Park, before heading south.  

Last hike in Redwood NP

Corkscrew Tree

Corkscrew Tree

Full view of Corkscrew Tree

Blackberries everywhere!

An hour down the road we found Patrick Point State Park, that we decided to explore for the afternoon.  There was a rim trail, with lots of overlooks, and multiple rocks to climb to the top of. We walked all afternoon, and found a picnic area to make dinner at, before heading off down the road to Bear River Casino, for a free overnight in their parking lot.  

Patrick's Point

Hike up to Ceremonial Rock in Patrick's Point State Park

Top of Ceremonial Rock

Hike up Wedding Rock (how appropriate!)

Lots of stairs up

View from Wedding Rock

Sunset from Bear Creek Casino parking lot

Sunday, September 5 - We left for Mendocino early in the morning, and as we were driving down 101, we saw a sign for Avenue of the Giants.  This is the original Route 101, and runs through Humboldt State Park.  It's 32 miles long and goes through some of the oldest groves of Redwoods.  We found a nice pamphlet, that told us things to look for on the drive, and we stopped for a few hikes.  At the Information Center, the ranger showed us the 3 types of Redwoods, which they have growing in front of the building.  One is the Coast Redwood, that we have seen A LOT of.  These are the tallest known trees, and can grow up to 350 ft,  They were also growing a Sequoia, which grows in the Sierra Nevada.  They are the most massive of all trees and can grow to be 250 ft and up to 3000 years old.  The last one was a Redwood that is found in China, called the Dawn Redwood.  The Dawn Redwood, doesn't grow to be tall like the other two and each year the leaves fall off.  

climbing on the trees, because he was in the circus :)

4 fireplaces designed by architect Julia Morgan (who designed Hearst Mansion)

Kev loves trees

We got to Mendocino after a long drive over the mountains with more windy roads.  The town of Mendocini is a quaint little town, which we enjoyed walking around.  There are lots of Art Shops and Main St looks out onto a beautiful cliff overlooking the ocean.  We walked all along the cliff, and made a quick trip up the street to Fort Bragg, to see the Glass Beach.  In the early 1900s the town had used the beach as a dump and all the glass dumped there was turned into seaglass.   

Beautiful flowers all over Mendocino

Mendocino is known for it's water towers, it doesn't have a water source

Our van along with quite a few others on Main St

Walk along the cliff