Trip Report- Morro Bay, Montana de Oro, San Luis Obispo

Hi All,

Had a wonderful relaxing time in Morro Bay.Didn%26#39;t make it to kayaking but found great places to play flute.

Lil Hut was great local fare with nice ocean view.

Ticki hut decor. Crab patty burger was delicious dungeness crab and fries were excellent.

Dorn%26#39;s provided great sunset view for dinner.

Tidepools: along Cuyacas (spelling????) State Park boundary. Found lots of turnoffs to explore tide pools. Lots of clams, hermit crabs and snails. Less diversity than say Pt Reyes/San Mateo coast or maybe it was just the tide level. No starfish, smaller numbers of anemones, no visible urchins just their empty rock condos. Easy accessibility and hope to come back and explore more. Part of this trip was also for San Luis Obispo.

Montana de Oro was fantastic. Volunteer Docent led a very informative hike along bluffs near the VC.

Learned about the condor of chitons - common name - Rotten Potato. In SF Bay region, chitons are about 2 inches max but here the ones washed ashore were 6-8 inches. Warning was to not touch since it eats dead things, it is very smelly and very few things eat this type of chiton. They leave a beautiful skeleton (butterfly wing shells). Blowhole at the cliff put on a fantastic show - no need to go to Hawaii. A oouple had lawn chairs and were just relaxing there and watching waves. Swells can get up to 20 feet so I can see why Mavericks surfers come down here as well. PGE has opened land for hikers to Pt. Buchon (means goiter cuz the Indian it%26#39;s named after had a huge one on his neck) Maybe that%26#39;s why buchon dogs are named that for the little puffpuff shape. Limited access. Hope to come back to hike it.

Caught a major Paragliding contest in San Luis Obispo. So many kites in the sky like colorful jellyfish bobbing. Plenty of wind and saw more than a few folk lifted by their kites.

So very unusual to be able to walk barefoot on the beach, wear shorts and not have my bones numbed by cold. Beachfolk looked off until I adjusted for the fact that no wetsuits were necessarily required this far South. The kids have beautiful highlighted hair that most pale Bay Area folk have to pay hundreds of dollars to have done artificially. Serene and peaceful to watch the sunset as people vacated the beach and sounds reduced to just waves.

Bishop Peak had great trees to climb on and panoramic views. Great workout.

Thanks very much to posters who helped with info and recs and thanks to TA for all the archived info. Had a wonderful time and hope to explore more.

Trip Report- Morro Bay, Montana de Oro, San Luis Obispo

Sounds very nice, I enjoyed reading your report! :)

Trip Report- Morro Bay, Montana de Oro, San Luis Obispo

Glad to hear to enjoyed your visit to the Central Coast. Still so much to see/do here. Come again soon and thanks for the report.