After a scary ending to my last McDonalds stay, I feel much safer in the one im in now, in Morro Bay, Ca. I stayed in a campsite last night in Los Padres National Forest. Cheap place, relatively speaking. Only $12. I talked a while to the campground host at that site. He told me campgrounds used to cost $3 everywhere back in the 80's. He said he traveled across Asia for 16 months threw India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, places you could never get to as an American today. He also said that he'd been the campground host of the Bottcher's Gap campground for 20 years. Now this campground was definitely off the beaten path, 8 miles up a switchback road from the coast. It took me close to a half hour to drive it. But gorgeous site, with overviews of Los Padres National Forest from the bluff on which the site is located. But back to the campground host. He'd been at that site for 20 years. 20 years! Doing nothing but being the host of a campground, living out of his rv. For 20 years. He was a nice enough guy, but man, talk about isolation. It's probably why he loved talking to me. I did a hike today from my campsite, but upon return to my tent, I was exhausted. Probably a result of little sleep the past two nights. The past two days, Ive awoken extremely early to vacate my campsite before the campground ever knew I was there. I know its wrong not to pay, but I don't feel bad when they're charging $50/night. I'm not paying that kind of money for a spot in the dirt. I'd rather stay in a hotel. Point being, back in my tent, I passed out for almost two hours before waking in the mid afternoon and packing up my stuff.
My goal today was to make the drive down rt. 1, driving down the Big Sur. If you ever drive from San Francisco to LA or vice versa, be sure to take this coastal route. Although the hairpin turns make traveling the 70 mile portion of the road a bit slow going (took me almost 3 hours), its well worth it. Fantastic views of the rugged coast of central California, with plenty of pullouts to take pictures. I stopped only a few times, trying to make it to Morro Bay before dusk. But the few stops I made were real winners. Got some fantastic pics, and at one of my stops, I had 2 California Condors pass by me at eye level! There are to reintroduced populations of Condors. I saw one individual from the Grand Canyon population, and now I've seen two birds from the California population! It was really cool, because they were both adults and really appeared enormous flying by so close. They're much bigger than any eagle you've ever seen. At one point they passed within 20 feet of my vantage point. Unfortunately that picture didn't turn out so well. Should have just admired them instead of trying to photograph. Sometimes taking pictures takes away from the enjoyment of nature. Sometimes its just better to watch and soak it all in. Anyway, fantastic drive down the coast, sun out the whole time. Two things would have improved my trip: 1) if I was in a convertible, 2) if i had someone else to drive it with. That way one could drive while the other got to check out the scenery. Then you switch drivers halfway and everyone wins.
Made it to Morro Bay tonight. Did a short run around Morro Rock, a huge mass of shoreline rock which shoots out of the ocean and can be seen from anywhere in town. I drove into the local state park after my run and borrowed their shower services. Showers feel so good these days. Not sure if Im camping there tonight, or at a campground in the mountains. It's getting late, so Ill decide that soon.
Also, so far on this trip, I've identified 356 species of birds, and seen a number of mammals, and many lizards which I admit am not able to ID. Reptiles aren't my forte. Before this trip, 10 years of bird watching had yielded me around 320 species. In two months, I've already surpassed that. It's been a pretty successful trip in regards to birds so far. I think I can reach 400 birds by the end of this trip. Thats my goal, We'll see if it can be done.
No comments:
Post a Comment