Big Sur to Mattole Beach

7/20/2011
Today we spent the day hopping up the coast from viewpoint to viewpoint. The lower coastal regions were quite dark and foggy.

Robert and the fog

As we got further north, the fog dissipated and the scenery was gorge-ous. Robert is standing in the lee of the rock because the wind was crazy intense.

Looking up the coast near Big Sur, CA.

Wildflowers and beach

Wildflowers and beach, take 2

Roberto was there.

Here we found a place to access the water - kind of. Robert claimed the rock as his own.

It took us a while to notice him, but his parents were very annoyed at our presence. (Baby sea gull)

I enjoyed the combo of the clear, kelpy water and the cool succulent flowers.

After soaking up the scenery, we drove into Monterey, CA for some internet. After failing to locate a Starbucks, we opted for the public library. It was free and it was internet, but it was really BAAAD internet. We spent the afternoon painstakingly blogging and looking for a hike and putting the next Dragon Girl book on our computer, but it was hell. Oh, and the AC was surely broken or non-existent because it was HOT in there too. We were so annoyed by the time we left that I bothered to leave a suggestion card about the poor quality internet to vent some frustration. 

We slept at a fairly strange place, another off-roading mecca: Holister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area. It is basically a park built for off-road vehicles. We found a secluded campground, perfect for our tent but too hills for trailers and had the place to ourselves. There was a kind of creepy feeling in the park and the birds were awfully noisy overnight, but other than that it was cheap camping. Also, I totally hear a cat fight overnight. We were not in domestic cat territory, which I take to mean that I heard a bobcat or a cougar!! I woke Robert because I wanted someone else to confirm, but he was too sleepy to care. I totally heard it though. Anyways, thanks for the cheap camping, but we need to get to better camping areas soon.

7/21/2011

After Big Sur, we continued charging northward.

We didn't stop in SF, just kept trucking. We will come back when we are employed.

We drove for several more hours and headed towards the Lost Coast, the section of the coast where the topography causes Hwy 1 to veer inland. Navigator Nancy found us a spot to stay that had water and was cheap - $8. We drove through great mountains and found the redwoods, too. We drove through Humboldt Redwoods State Park, but again, we didn't stop. It was a nice drive, but we were ready to be out of the car. Interestingly, we never passed a ranger's station or any sort of development in the park, just a road through some nice trees. We also liked the scenery just past the park, sloping yellow mountains and thickets of green trees.

Scenery near Petrolia, CA

Finally we reached our destination, Mattole Beach BLM campground. There is potable water and only 14 campsites. A gem of a little park. The place was about half full when we arrived and we were ready to rest a bit. We opted against a fire, since collecting enough driftwood from the beach would be quite a chore. Instead we feasted on lentils.

Robert walks out to the Lost Coast by Mattole Beach BLM Campground.