So. Cal. Part 2 - Morro Bay [231008-11]

For the next leg of our So. Cal journey, we stayed at the Morro Bay State Park Campground.  We opted for a spot in the upper non-hookup area instead of the lower RV area, to get a little more breathing space between ourselves and our neighbors.  The trees in the background are actually one of the few monarch butterfly groves in the area, but we were a few weeks too early for their return.

We started our Monday on a quest for otters.  Google listed two viewing sites, so we started at the pier first.  No otters there, but there were a number of sea lions lounging out on the back steps of a couple of the boats; we’re not sure how as a boat owner you’re supposed to chase off several hundred pounds of sea lion when you want to take your boat out, but I guess that’s one of the reasons we bought an RV and not a boat. 😜

One of the sea lions was being very vocal, honking from the time we drove up in the parking lot through all our photo and selfie taking, right up until the time I decided to take some video of him - and then he decided to lay down and take a nap. 🙄

Next we drove out to the viewing area at the base of Morro Rock itself, and found a nice little raft of otters there.  Some were swimming around, some were cleaning themselves (and their pups), while others had already anchored themselves to some kelp for a nap.

As we were making our way around the Rock, a man had a spotting scope aimed at a peregrine falcon with a sign up inviting people to look, so we did.  We were able to find the location afterwards which is arguably a little outside the resolving power of my walkabout lens (yes, there was a conversation about why my zoom lens is currently sitting in a backpack in the dining room instead of in the Travato) but here’s the best shot we could get of it.

Coming around the back side of the Rock where the pavement ends we found an area where past visitors had constructed a cairn city.

The relatively low tide let us hike out onto the boulder and sand spit far enough to get the entire back side of the Rock into a single frame.

And since we were there, we got a photo in front of the ”world famous” smoke stacks.  We don’t know why they’re so special - but apparently people come from all over the world to see them.  We got curious when we discovered that they were one of the scenes you could get from the Penny Smasher on the pier, so Christine looked it up - apparently it’s “a thing”.  🤷‍♂️

After lunch, we hiked to the top of Black Hill, which is the next morro in the chain and one of the few that you’re actually allowed up onto.  From the top, you get a view of the entire Morro Bay Area.

On Tuesday we drove down to Montaña de Oro State Park to hike the combined Valencia Peak and Valencia Bluff trails.  The Peak Trail by itself is 4.7 miles round-trip to the 1347 ft top, but can be combined with the Bluff Trail for part of the return trip to follow the coastline for different scenery and a 7.1 mile total (assuming you don’t take any of the side bluff paths, which we did since the main Bluff Trail doesn’t go to the edges).  We actually sat in the trailhead parking lot until about 12:30 (doing Amazon Prime Day sale shopping, since there thankfully was cell service there) waiting for the thick wet fog layer to burn off so that we’d be able to see the scenery as we hiked, but things cleared up nicely after that with the remaining partly-cloudy skies keeping us from getting too hot on the climb up.

From the peak, you could see Morro Bay and Rock in the far distance:

The Bluff Trail provided some interesting scenery.  There were a few arches and caves:

But the waves had also cut a number of long alleyways into the coastline, in addition to the wider coves.  Here’s the edges of one, with Morro Rock in the background:

…and looking down the length:

Random cool rock formations:  we had the “Docked Submarine”…

…and “Sad Lion Looking Out At Sea”

By way of wildlife:  we saw a couple of sea lions fishing out in the ocean, but the distance and glare made it impossible to get a decent photo.  And we’re in rattlesnake country 😱.  We heard one rattling in the bushes right next to a bridge we needed to cross, which was not super-awesome.  And then later Christine spotted this guy in the bushes next to the path:  he was super chill and not rattling, so we figured he wouldn’t mind having his photo taken.

We watched the sunset before heading back to camp.

Wednesday morning was clear and sunny.

We went back to the Rock to say goodbye to the otters, and then stopped at the pier for some oysters.  We’re not 100% sure they were “Morro Bay oysters”, but we figure the location makes them “close enough” 😉.

(We had to wave off a seagull who thought he was going to get a free lunch as we were composing this shot 😉.)