End of December Travels

On December 28th and 29th, my husband and I headed off for a three day trip to the Big Sur coast. Our first stop was exploring wonderful and beautiful Kirk Creek campground and the surrounding trails.

Site #11

We hiked up a portion of trail across from Kirk Creek campground, but had to turn back due to the sun setting.

The next morning, we ventured down a trail just behind our campsite where we were then rewarded with beautiful views.

Before heading north, we headed to Plaskett/ Sand Dollar Beach area just south of Kirk Creek for a hike along the bluff to the point and back, and then a climb down to the beach.

After taking in the views, we headed north to Pfeiffer Big Sur campground. We squeezed into our spot for the night and took a stroll around the campground.

Our discoveries were the Big Sur Creek and fungus.

In the morning, we took a dog-friendly trail (Pine Ridge trail) that led us up out of the campground into the Ventana Wilderness. We met numerous backpackers heading to the backpacker campground near a hot spring.

We opted for a short hike off a spur trail that ended with this nicely done dead-end. Finding the dog-friendly trail was such a wonderful surprise since the State Park trails are not dog-friendly. Kirk Creek was our favorite campsite and the trail up into the Ventana Wilderness was our favorite trail.

Wright's Beach

My husband and I decided we wanted to get away since the weather forecast in town for the weekend would be temperatures around the mid 100s. Yes, someplace cool would be nice! I looked online for places where the weather would be cooler with available campsites. I didn't expect to find an opening at Wright's Beach on the Sonoma Coast. Luckily for us there was one site open, site #13 a drive-through. This site is more exposed than some of the other sites, but we situated the RV to block a site behind us.

Since the site across from us only had a person tenting, we were able to see the ocean from our site.

The greatest reward to this campground is the wide beach...and I mean wide. This is looking down the coast, south, towards Duncan's Landing.

And this is looking up the coast, north, towards Jenner. The tire tracks in both photos are from the lifeguard who was there to rescue anyone thinking of taking a swim on this warm day. It was 82 degrees at the beach, but nobody was foolish to try swimming in the waves on one of California's most deadliest beaches. Those waves look inviting, but there are dangerous rip currents which would sweep one under -plus the water is freezing. Even at the park's kiosk, the ranger warned not to go in the water.

This is looking into the direction of the campground. The campground is nestled in the green of trees.

Crashing waves at Duncan's Landing are beautiful and fun to watch. One brave soul was swimming in the waves close to shore keeping a friendly eye on us. Sadly, I couldn't capture a decent photo of that curious seal.

Our walk along the beach took us up the coast where we found a set of stairs and a path up the hill to...

the Kortum trail; a coastal trail that starts a Wright's Beach and travels north to Blind  Beach and Goat Rock.

We found the trail post and headed back to Wright's Beach campground.

The trail started out as a dirt trail, but shortly it became a boardwalk.

Just one of many pretty plants in bloom.

We continued our journey across the board walk looking at the vegetation and wondering what type of animals were hiding under the plants during the day.

The boardwalk ended at a road, which we then followed back to camp. From the road you could see the beach and Duncan's Landing.

We hiked this trail twice going in the same direction from beach up to bluff. It wasn't until the second trip that we discovered at the trailhead at the Wright's Beach parking lot that there was a sign stating no dogs allowed on the Kortum Trail. There wasn't a notice at the post coming up from the beach...oh well. Along the bluff was one last resurrection lily from a group of bulbs showing off its beauty and for one to admire its glory.

While at the bottom of the bluff, the vegetation had already turned brown, orange, and red.

With two hikes in one day of walking the beach, climbing the bluff, and traveling back to camp, my feet were tired. The evening was spent looking for shooting stars and admiring the Milky Way.

We will definitely come back to this wonderful campground.

A Midweek Break

We took a couple of days off to visit and explore the coast north of Jenner, CA. Since we didn't have reservations at a campground, we were fortunate to stayed at the lovely Stillwater Cove Campground. Our site was right next to the empty site on the left, the picnic table area.  We were lucky that the campground during midweek wasn't in full use. Even the bike-in/hike-in site behind us was empty.

Even though Highway 1 was close to the campsite, we hardly heard any road noise.

Stillwater Cove Campground is situated in a lovely area of forest that is along the coast. From the campground one can take a short hike down to the beach or walk alongside a stream that feeds into the ocean. The plus is that dogs are allowed to hike these trails. Thank you Sonoma County!

Naturally, we did both short hikes.

In the evening, we ate hamburgers with bacon and fried onions and mushrooms. I'm preparing dinner.  It was such a wonderful bug free, cool evening that we relaxed and enjoyed our leisurely meal at the picnic table. We took a couple of strolls around the campground and met the wonderful hosts, Sue and Betty. It was fun chatting with them. They have been full-timers for at least eight years and this is one of their favorite places to be camp hosts. They sure do make one feel very welcome!

We also drove up to Sea Ranch area and walked a short section of a trail along this stretch of beautiful coast.

As we headed back to Jenner and home, we stopped to look at the sea lions lounging and sunning themselves on the beach. They look like tiny dots lined up along the waters edge of the beach.