Hello civilization!! We’ve just emerged from a week in the wilderness in Los Padres National Forest. It was a very relaxing week of Farkle playing, reading, hiking, and sitting by the fire. After the hustle and bustle of “city living” in Laguna Beach, it was a much needed retreat.

We headed North on the Pacific Coast Highway, not forgetting to stop every once in a while to enjoy the stunning views. The Pacific Coast Highway just South of Big Sur is as beautiful a drive as it’s famed to be. It is also very rugged, and there are long stretches with no towns to speak of. Of course no towns means no gasoline. We had under a quarter tank left and were starting to get a bit worried when we saw the Whale Watcher’s Inn and the long line of cars with drivers looking as relieved as we felt. Relieved until we saw the price that is, $6.50 a gallon for Regular! I think we’ve found our most expensive gas of the trip! We fueled up and continued to carefully make our way along the coast.

We had hoped to camp on a cliff above the water at Kirk Creek Campground, but as we thought might be the case, the campground was full even though we had arrived on a Wednesday. So we did the best thing we knew to do, we drove inland. We turned down an even more precarious road that climbed high above the rocky beaches and twisted us into the Los Padres National Forest. After about a half an hour we were wondering if we were going to come across the campground that our Outdoor Edition Atlas claimed existed. The little tent icons had not failed us yet! 

And then we came upon it, Nacimiento Campground. It only has eight campsites, and to call the “pit pot” stinky would be the understatement of the year, but we were beyond thrilled to find an available campsite! And at only $10 a night we decided to make it our home base for the next week. 

We quickly discovered that the sole water spigot at the campground was turned off so our next mission was to find running, potable water. We ventured back out to the coast to a little gift shop to buy the most expensive water of the trip. Then we found a nice little picnic spot beside the ocean.

Our lunch spot right next to the water

A great view of the Pacific Coast Highway

 While the coastal views were gorgeous, it was amazing to drive up through the “perma-fog” as the locals called it, and look down at the ocean. The clouds were so close you could almost reach out and touch them.


Between this key chain...     

                                                               
   ...and this face Marc has earned himself the nickname Captain.

Although we took many short hikes to explore the forest, our only real hike in the area was along the closed Central Coast Ridge Road. The road had been closed due to rock slides (although it looked perfectly passable to us) but it made for a nice wide trail to some beautiful vistas.

 

Now that's a big pine cone!

During our week long stay we saw many campers come and go and among them we had the pleasure of meeting the nicest Californians to date. Laurence and Andra, you guys are wonderful and we enjoyed sharing a campground with the two of you!

Laurence even provided us with dinner one night; fresh caught trout from the river by our campground!

By the look on  his face, you'd think I didn't feed him!

As you can see our time in Los Padres was all about relaxation, but after a week in the backcountry we will admit we are excited for a hot shower. Next it’s up the coast to San Francisco where we’ll add another adventurer to our crew. We will see you soon Mama T!