Montana de Oro

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:55PM – I drove about an hour and a half north today and came to Los Osos. From here I drive about 25 minutes west toward the coast and begin an ascent up the mountain of Montana de Oro (Spanish for Mountain of Gold, named after the gold rock interiors of the mountain). As I drive up, the road immediately covers itself in what I assume are sequoia trees. I almost feel like I’m driving through a tunnel with the density of trees.. I then emerge from the tunnel of trees to see the entire pacific to my right, as I’m still driving up this mountain. Shortly hereafter I reach my campground.

The park host Lana hooked me up with a better campsite as my original one would have not had any kind of view, and I would have had to park and hike up a ways to get to.

There was a small cove below us with a parking lot; I asked Lana if it was safe there to unload my kayak and take off. She warned me it was dangerous, but I went ahead and gave it a shot. I can see what she means though, if you aren’t paying attention or aren’t used to navigating a kayak you can get yourself pretty messed up, as there are large waves on either side of the cove that crash on rock. I meandered through the center, which only had swells, and on the way out noticed the funkiest sea fauna.. It had the appearance of anacondas floating on the surface with eggplants growing out of them. Dark cylindrical things with black bulbs attached. Very strange.

Paddled back in, rested for a bit, and then decided to climb a pretty large rock (as I’d seen someone else do it earlier). At the top was one of the softest sands I’ve ever stepped on. The rock juts out and allows you to walk a bit out into the ocean. Below me were large waves crashing and throwing water up. I then had what felt like a cliché scene out of a movie; I noticed the sun setting from my comfy spot ontop of this rock with waves crashing below me. As the sun was about halfway down the horizon, 2 flocks of birds, each from opposite directions, flew across the setting sun from my vantage point. As the sun set, I then turned around to go back and noticed that a full moon was at rising from the mountains. It was a little ridiculous.

I got down from the rock and said hello to a couple I saw paddle-surfing out in the ocean – Greg and Susan.. We got to talking a little and the next thing you know they’ve given me a beer – the kind I just had last night, Firestone. In return I gave them a beer I had in my car. Fantastically nice people; the guy reminded me of Anthony Keidis from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Greg asked if I was traveling up north, which after affirming he told me it only gets better from here. I do find that hard to believe, but ok.



Sunset at Montana de Oro