Camping 2019
We didn’t do a long camping tip in 2019 but did several shorter
trips. First up was a trip to southern California in March
The Route: Blue is south bound and green north bound. Red stars are southbound stopping points and black stars are northbound.
As might be expected on the Oregon coast in early spring, we had dark clouds, light clouds, some rain, and some
sunshine. Both of these pictures were taken on our first day. The campground is Nehalem Bay State Park
On the second day we stopped in Newport for some really good clam chowder at Georgie’s Beachside Grill and then
continued on down 101 stopping for the night at Sunset Bay State Park. The campground wasn’t particularly memorable
and it was heavily overcast that evening so we didn’t see the sunset. However, in the morning we got this picture of the
bay.
A short day mileage-wise turned a bit longer with a bit of detour because
the highway was closed due to a landslide dropping a bunch of the
pavement. But, we persevered and found Jedidiah Smith State Park. We
had a great spot that backed up to the Smith River.
We continued on down 101 to Leggett and picked up California Highway 1
there. We spent the night in a commercial park on the north side of
Westport which is just south of where Highway 1 leaves the coast. We were
parked just over a dune from the ocean and saw this nice sunset.
These two pictures were taken from pretty
much the same place on Highway 1, about 50
miles north of San Francisco. The one on the
right was taken in June of 1997. The one on
the left on this trip.
The next two camp spots didn’t get a picture, Half Moon Bay State Park is a nice campground, close to the ocean but it was windy and rainy and the camera
didn’t come out. After that we went to Monterey and camped at the Navy campground which is not photogenic but the price is right. After Monterey we
intended to go down the more famous part of Highway 1, south of Big Sur but a landslide had closed the highway so we shifted east and went Pinnacles
National Park,
There were a lot of wild turkeys in the
campground at Pinnacles National Park.
In the center of this picture are the
pinnacles the park is named for. A long time
ago a branch of the San Andreas fault ran
through a volcano. These pinnacles are the
left half of that volcano. The remains of the
right half are some 200 miles to the south.
