On April 21-28th I embarked on an epic adventure throughout Central & Southern California. Starting at Yosemite National Park, we worked our way down the coast to San Clemente. My brother John, his (6 month pregnant) wife Allie & my sister Rachel came along for trip. Our red-eye from ILM arrived in Los Angeles at 12:30AM Wednesday the 22nd, we picked up our Chrysler Town & Country and started the journey north to Yosemite National Park. Running on little to no sleep and a lot of caffeine, we coasted into Yosemite at around 8AM. We stopped along the way at a Walmart to get food & supplies for the next couple nights. Since it was a bit too early to check into our Yosemite accommodations at Housekeeping Camp, we decided to start exploring. Our first stop at the southernmost part of the park, was the Mariposa Grove; a stunning collection of towering Giant Seqouias.
We quickly moved on towards Glacier Point. During our planning of this trip, we noticed that the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy for the 3 days we planned to be in the park (of course it was warm and sunny before and after). It actually turned out to be a blessing in surprise, as the brief rain during the day kept some of the tourists at bay, and the cooler temps made hiking and sleeping outdoors more comfortable. In route to Glacier Point, we noticed some dark clouds moving in, so we wanted to make it there before the bottom dropped out. We were pretty fortunate that the road to Glacier Point was open this early in the season, most years it doesn’t open until early May. But since they had such low snowfall this year we lucked out. At a elevation of 7,214 ft, the point offers a superb view of Yosemite National Park’s Yosemite Valley, including Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, and Clouds Rest. It one of the most amazing places and views I have ever seen. We hung out for a while, took some photos, ate some lunch, before the weather started to deteriorate and we headed down into the valley.
We made a quick stop at the iconic Tunnel View, one of the most famous views of Yosemite Valley, which was unfortunately cased in clouds. By the time we arrived to Housekeeping Camp the rain had become pretty steady. We loaded our gear into our tent (aka 3 cinderblock walls and a canvas wall and roof, enclosing the beds). Normally we’d setup at Camp 4 with our tents, but due to the forecast of rain and Allie being 6 months pregnant, we decided this form of “Glamping” was our next best option. And it ended up being pretty swell, we got a unit right next to the Merced with views of Half Dome. Luckily we were prepared for the rain, so we suited up in our rain gear and set out to hike. We hiked across the valley to catch a view of Lower Yosemite Falls just before sunset. We managed to get a good fire going despite the earlier rain, and cooked our first meal in Yosemite over the fire. I was really looking forward to using my new intervalometer to get some good timelapses of the night sky, but the cloud cover made that a little difficult. After some much needed sleep we woke up Thursday morning to sunshine and a warm cup of coffee. We loaded up on granola bars and hit the trail towards our goal for the day, Upper Yosemite Falls. The hike up was pretty intense, but it’s hard to notice when you’re surrounded by such incredible views. This was Rachel’s first time joining us on one of our “trips” and I don’t think she knew what she was getting herself into. Me and her both were getting smoked by the pregnant girl, and Rachel wasn’t talking to us by the time we reached the top. Well, we didn’t actually make it all the way to the top, we stopped at OMG rock, which gives you a pretty awesome and up-close view of Upper Falls and an aerial view of Lower Falls. We waved at Housekeeping Camp way way way down in the valley and said, “Hey that’s where we came from!” We had our lunch at OMG rock before heading back down to the valley.
One thing I really liked about Yosemite was the bus system they have within the park. Since everything is pretty spread out in the valley, the bus system runs throughout the day, with around 25 stops at a bunch of different areas. Everything is setup in different “Villages” in the park, so it makes it really easy to explore the many options within. After our hike we decided to take the trolley back to camp. We rested a bit in camp and played a few games of horse with our kendamas. Me, John & Allie decided we were thirsty for more and decided to do some more exploring. Rachel decided to sit this next adventure out and take a nap, so we set off promising to return in an hour. 3 hours later me and John were standing on top of Vernal Falls. We always start out with small goals, then those goals expand into larger goals until we flat wear ourselves out. Our intentions were to hike to the start of the John Muir Trail, you know, just to say we hiked the John Muir Trail. But once we got there, we saw that Vernal Falls was just a “short” hike away. I’m glad we did. This was probably my favorite waterfall of the trip. Sure it’s not as tall or majestic as Upper, Lower or Bridal Veil Falls, but the amount of water flowing over the edge, and the misty wind tunnel created by its location inside a narrow valley, and the chiseled out staircase leading to the top of the falls made it pretty incredible. And I’m a sucker for waterfalls. Allie was pooped and sat out the summit push. We decided it would be a good time to head back before Rachel starts worrying.
We got back to camp, reunited with Rachel, and decided we’ve earned a meal at Yosemite Lodge for dinner. We figured for our last night in Yosemite, might as well splurge, right? I think we all got burgers and beers (except the pregnant one) and ate ourselves into a food coma. I went out again on a bridge crossing the Merced at twilight to try and capture Upper Yosemite Falls with the stars in the background. I got a bit of clouds in the shot, but it turned our fairly decent.
Our goal for the next day, and our last day in Yosemite, was to hike up to the base of El Capitan. El Cap is pretty well-known (aka famous) in the climbing world, its vertical face stretches 3000 feet from base to summit. I’m not climber, but looking up at this beast from the ground really puts in perspective how gnarly of a climb it would be and gives you a lot of respect for the guys (and girls) who conquer it. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson had just made a historic free-climb of El Cap’s Dawn Wall just a few months earlier. And tragically, Dean Potter and Graham Hunt died while B.A.S.E. jumping a month or so after. We decided to get our climb on and attempted to “free climb” a little ways up the the not-so-steep bottom sections. Did I mention I don’t like heights? We didn’t get very far. We hung out for a while, explored and played around the base before heading back. We made a stop at a little vista in the valley where I got some landscapes of El Capitan, then we stopped at a little picnic area, heated some coals and threw our homemade “Hobo” dinners on the coals. A must have delicacy for any camping excursion. We grubbed out and took some portraits before heading back to Housekeeping Camp to pack up our gear. Housekeeping Camp turned out to be a pretty awesome little basecamp. I mean, why would you spend loads of cash on a hotel room in the valley when you hardly spend anytime there? They have showers, bathrooms, electricity and even a camp store with anything you would need. We said our goodbyes to Yosemite and hit the road west towards Monterey and the Pacific Coast Highway.
We made it to Monterey just before sunset and took the scenic 17-mile drive through the mansions and golf courses of Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove. We stopped at the famous Lone Cypress Tree before we were incased in darkness for the back half of the drive. We cruised over to a quaint little Chili’s Restaurant for dinner and indulged ourselves in food and libations. We found a hotel for the night`in Monterey, I forget the name, it was one of those mom and pop jobbies, but nice nonetheless. We all got showers and a good night of sleep in preparation for our big drive down Highway 1 the following morning.
If you ever get a chance to drive down the PCH, do it! The road transverses all kinds of landscapes. From craggy cliffsides to Redwood Forests to Flat grasslands to seal filled beaches, it has it all. We made a few stops along some epic overlooks and vistas like Julia Pfeiffer State Park, McWay Falls, Bixby Bridge, San Simeon and many other unnamed spots. When we were in California a few years back we made the drive from south to north. Along that path we camped at Andrew Molera State Park. It was here where John proposed to Allie, so we knew it was a destination we had to stop for. We spent some time here, taking a brief hike to the beach to watch the surfers and take some photos on the bench set on a bluff overlooking the ocean, where John proposed. We also stopped at McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, where a slender waterfall empties into the Pacific, conveniently located right off the highway. We try to avoid the real “touristy” stuff, but this one is worth the hassle. We continued on down the PCH to the beaches of San Simeon, where thousands of Elephant seals call their home. The stench is pretty unbearable, but it’s pretty awesome seeing these hefty beasts beached in the sand soaking in some rays, having brief spats with one another. We moved on down to Morro Bay, a quiet fishing town distinguishable by the giant rock shooting up from the shoreline, a 576 foot high volcanic plug. I walked out the beach solo to get some landscapes, where I was greeted by hundreds of pristine sand dollars, something hard to come by on the east coast. As we inched closer to Los Angeles, we realized we turned a 5 hour drive into a 8 hour drive.
In route to LA we stopped at a famous surf break called Rincon, in hopes of going for a little surf. As expected, however, it was completely flat. We took the opportunity to walk the beach and collect a fews pebbles for mementos. We arrived in LA after sunset, and just before they closed the road to Griffith Observatory. If you’re looking for a aerial view of Los Angeles, this is it. I’d recommend going at nighttime, although it seems everyone else had the same idea, as parking was absurd and we had quite a walk ahead of us to reach the top. However, the views were magnificent and most certainly worth it. We continued on towards our home for the next couple nights in Laguna Hills. Miraculously, an In and Out burger was located directly across the street from our hotel. Score! We spend the next couple days hanging out with our awesome cousins in San Clemente and surfing at Trestles in San Onofre State Beach. On our last day, we headed to LA early to walk the boardwalk in Venice Beach, check out the pier in Santa Monica and cruise the famous people stuff in Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. Another successful California trip in the books! You can view and order prints and canvases from this trip, and others, by following this link, http://prints.chriszachary.com. Help me support my travel habit by adorning your walls with some of these gems!
March 16-25, 2014, I took a trip to Costa Rica. It was sweet. Here’s my account of what transpired. As with most of my travel escapades, I like to write a travel journal of what we did. Mainly so I can look back on the good times. Its funny, however, when I write these things, despite the fact that it’s on a public forum (my blog), I feel mostly like I’m talking to myself. So pardon the excessive use of talking (typing) in third person and my overuse of parenthesis. You can check out a video I made from the trip below or click here to purchase prints.
Right after shooting Dan & Jessica’s Wedding in Carolina Beach, I hopped in a car with my usual travel companions, my brother, John, and his wife, Allie, to start the trek to Flordia to catch our flight to Costa Rica. This was our second trip there, but it had been nine years since we first made the trip.
We made a few stops on the way, like getting fresh orange juice from the FL welcome center (kudos to you, Flordia) and stopping through Cocoa Beach and Ron John Surf Shop (And Pizza Hut). We quickly retired to our hotel in Orlando to catch our 8 AM flight to Costa. We sucessfully made our flight without any complications (except for a few pressure dings on our surfboards, thanks JetBlue) and proceeded via shuttle to retrieve the rental car.
They picked us a real winner of a car, a questionable, uncomforting noise was coming from under the hood as we sped off. After a quick U-Turn, and John negotiating with the fellow why we would like another car, (“Oh, it’ll be fine”, he said) his persistence paid off and we were rewarded with a sparkly white, 4×4 Daihatsu Terios.
I’ll admit, we were a bit nervous navigating ourselves to our destination for the night, the Arenal Hostel Resort. During our first trip to Costa Rica in 2005, we unknowingly left the airport going in the complete wrong direction. Long story short, we ended up with our Terios in a ditch and were forced to drive through the night on dark, unmarked, unfamiliar dirt roads, with running out of gas a real possibility. We really didn’t want that to happen again, so we were very meticulous about our mapping. We took the longer, more scenic route, which gave us some great views of the mountainous Costa Rican countryside.
Our first choice of hotel was the Arenal Observatory Lodge, which sits in the shadow of Arenal Volcano. Unfortunately, it was booked, so we went with Arenal Hostel Resort in La Fortuna. When we pulled up to a fortress-like structure with tall cinderblock walls, we were a bit concerned on what we were getting ourselves in to, but it ended up being a pretty sweet place. We had volcano views from our room, plus the place gives you a ticket for a complimentary alcoholic beverage at check in. Score. Sitting on our porch, it felt like we were in a tree-house, overlooking a courtyard of hammocks. We got some food from the bar (and our complimentary beverage), walked to the store to grab some of Costa Rica’s finest brew, Imperial, and celebrated our first night in Costa with drinks and a few competitive games of Kendama.
We got up early and got a delicious plate of comida tipica (rice, beans and in this case, eggs) from a restaurant down the street before starting our day at the Arenal Observatory. On the drive there we got some pretty incredible views of the Volcano along the tree-fence post lined dirt roads. The panoramic views from the deck at the Arenal Observatory aren’t too bad either. Then we took to the trails surrounding the volcano, where we encountered swinging bridges, wildflife and waterfalls. I went for a little swim with the GoPro at the base of the waterfall.
Once we completed our loop, we celebrated our accomplishments with lunch and a cold Imperial at the Observatory.
We got back to the hostel in time to pack our stuff and get back on the road to our destination for the night on the North West coast, Playa Negra.
It was our intention (at least according to Johns itinerary) to make it there in time to get in a surf before dark. We made a bet on what time we’d get there. I guessed the latest time. I won. No surf before dark, but we did get settled into our ant infested non-airconditioned hut before nightfall at Hotel Playa Negra and grabbed some casado de pescado (fish) from the restaurant/bar. Afterwards we took a walk on the beach, where me and John had a footrace to prove who’s the faster brother. I won. We hung out at the bar, took at dip in the pool and played some pool before retiring to our hut for the night.
I slept pretty well despite the lack of air circulation, the 2 inch thick mattress and having to swat ants off me all night. John woke me up at the crack-ass-of-dawn all giddy about going surfing out front, so I rolled out of bed and complied. The waves weren’t that great but it was still fun and we had it to ourselves for the most part. We came in to wake Allie and grabbed some comida tipica and some much need cafe con leche. 
The waves pretty much went flat after breakfast so we explored the area on foot and bodysurfed in the shorebreak. Not long after we packed up the car and headed down the coast towards Nosara and our home for the next few days, Harbor Reef.
We stayed at Harbor Reef 9 years ago during our first trip to Costa Rica and we really loved it, so we knew it was a place we wanted to stay. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised when we were upgraded to a 2 room suite complete with a kitchen! Once settled in we took a walk down the dirt paths to the beach where John caught a surf and we watched our first sunset in Nosara from Playa Guiones.
The next few days consisted of waking up, going for a dawn patrol surf session at Guiones, grabbing our complimentary fresh fruit breakfast from Harbor Reef, exploring Nosara on foot, relaxing by the pool drinking smoothies during the hottest times of the day and going for an evening sunset surf session at Guiones. And of course we would finish the night off by the bar at Harbor Reef, playing the iconic “ring-toss” game, cooking dinner in our suite or taking a star-filled walk on the beach, before falling asleep to the sound of howler monkeys outside our suite.
The trail to the beach.
If I had to choose one place to stay in Costa Rica, it would be at Harbor Reef in Nosara. Get a few friends, take a bus to Nosara from San Jose, rent a couple ATV’s or dirt bikes and hang out and surf in and around Nosara. Perfection. It changed a lot since our first time going (way more gringos) but it was still super fun and relaxing. The locals had deemed Playa Guiones as Playa Goonies (probably due to all the kooky gringos). When the time came for us to check out, we looked to stay another day, but the place was booked completely and someone was scheduled to take over our suite. We knew we wanted to stay close to Nosara for another day, so we hit the interwebs to find a spot. I found the Lagarta Lodge.
The Lagarta Lodge is situated at the Northern-most part of Nosara, atop a cliff with Nosara on the south side and a Biological Reserve on the north. We knew the biological reserve would be our best chance at finding some monkeys.. The lodge is owned by a transplanted Swiss couple, who care less about the surf scene in Guiones and more about the conservation of Costa Rica’s wildlife and biological diversity. We drove up after our dawn patrol session on our last day at Harbor Reef to check it out and see if we could get a room. We did and we decided to take a little walk around the point. We walked along the river mouth to the beach and up on the rocks around the point before heading back to Guiones to catch an afternoon surf session.
It gets so hot during the day in Costa, everybody retreats indoors to catch a siesta during peak hotness, so we weren’t surprised when we walked up to the beach and there only a few people in sight. (However, when we came here 9 years ago, we hardly saw anyone the whole time we were in Nosara) They have these pretty cool shelter/hut/lean-to type things on the beach at Guiones made of palm leaves and bamboo. I would guess they were made by a gringo like myself who gets sunburned just from the reflection off the sand. But I made use of them often when shooting photos from the beach. We did a little more exploring before John went back out for a sunset surf. We stayed out on the beach way past sunset and decided to splurge on our last night at Harbor Reef by eating dinner at the restaurant, having some drinks at the bar and playing a few last games of ring-toss.
We woke up the next day, packed our belongings, went for an AM surf and headed out towards Lagarta Lodge. Once we got our stuff in our room, we started walking on a dirt road to where we thought would lead us to Playa Pelada. During our walk, we encountered what we could only describe as a Howler Monkey turf-war. We looked up and saw a group (family, pack, whatever) of about 10-15 monkeys eating leaves peacefully in the trees above us, then out of nowhere a big angry Howler came out howling (growling) ferociously at the group, essentially attempting to chase the group off of his turf. We watched in awe as these monkeys started leaping frantically, some with their babies clinging on to their backs, from tree to tree across the dirt road (watch the video at the top of the post to see, or click here). It was probably one of the craziest things I’ve ever witnessed.
We sat there until dusk and photographed this group of monkeys. My desire to see some monkeys up close had been fulfilled! We made it back to the lodge in time to grab a couple drinks at the sunset bar to (you guessed it) watch the sunset, where we were treated to panoramic views of Playa Nosara and the Rivermouth Boca.
Then we decided to drive down to Playa Pelada and eat at a restaurant right on the beach called Bar Olgas. It looked like a local hangout, but we just shrugged off the odd looks as we found our seat. I ordered my usual, comida tipica. The food was delicious, although we were interrupted halfway through our meal by the policía rushing in, flashing their lights towards the beach, where we saw a large gringo fella on an air mattress with a couple younger ticas. Dinner and a show, sweet. When we returned to our hotel, we were greeted by a large colony of geckos both inside our room and outside on our porch, which I guess is normal? We woke up early to get in a hike in the biological preserve where we saw more monkeys, birds and coatis (hog-nosed coons).
We then parted ways with Nosara and started our drive south to our next and final stop of the trip, Playa Hermosa. Once you pass the Nicoya peninsula and get into Puntarenas, the landscape changes pretty drastically. It starts getting more mountainous, more humid (think rainforest) and a lot greener. Nosara is more desert-like I guess you could say. The roads go along some pretty precarious ridges, which make for some pretty breathtaking views. We got checked into the Backyard Hotel in Playa Hermosa just in time to crack a couple Imperials and watch the sunset from the black sand beach. The vibe here is a little different than Nosara. Not as many kooky gringos, probably due to the fact that the wave is a lot heavier than Guiones. I can remember getting drilled into the sand a few times here. But it’s mostly a surfers beach, with most of the hotels catering to surfers. We ate dinner at the bar (comida tipica) and called it a night. The next day would be me and John’s birthday and our last full day in Costa Rica.
We woke up early anticipating a big swell to come in overnight. It wasn’t as big as it was forecasted to be, but still some good ones coming through, I sat at the bar with my cafe con leche while John paddled out. After breakfast at the restaurant we drove in to Jaco to do a little souvenir shopping at the touristy shops there before heading back to grab smoothies, lounge by the pool with the iguanas and surf a little more. John went for another surf in the evening then we walked all the way down the beach to the point and climbed along the lava rock (fun fact: the black sand is a product of lava). We celebrated at the bar with birthday drinks and dinner, but we couldn’t party too hard because we had an early flight back to the US… Thanks for the good times Costa, till next time…
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Prints can be purchased from the following link: prints.chriszachary.com/cali2012 |
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| Day One – My brother, his fiance, Allie and I recently returned from a awesome journey out west. From the dates of August 1-9 we explored up and down the Southern California coast. We ventured as far north as Monterey and as far south as San Diego. After flying into San Diego Wednesday August 1st, we immediately hopped in the rental car, picked up a surfboard for John, and started the quest North, to our home for the night, Point Mugu State Park. We stopped in San Clemente on the way to visit with our Cousins Tami & Michael. After a great lunch at The Riders Club Cafe and some quality visiting we started back on the road towards Long Beach, CA. | |||||
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| We always seem to underestimate California traffic, especially around the L.A. area. You can always count on traffic to set you back at least an hour. We eventually made it into Long Beach, CA for a quick stop at Tuttle Cameras to pick up my lens rental for the week, a 100-400L lens. I knew I’d need a little more reach since we’d be doing a lot of surfing, so I reserved a rental through BorrowLenses.com. Next stop, Walmart for camping supplies for the next 3 nights. Subtract 2 more hours. Walmart was a zoo and set us even more behind on our precarious itinerary. Finally, after more then 6 hours from departing San Clemente (only a 2 hour drive according to google), we made it to Point Mugu State Park. This state park is placed right on the rocky shoreline of the Pacific, with the Santa Monica Mountains as the backdrop. Delightful. We arrived just before sunset, secured our spot and set up camp. For the three nights we camped, we were fortunate enough to have a full moon, illuminating the landscape. After a delicious dinner, a great fire and a bit of exploring, we climbed into our tents and got some sleep, trying to adjust to the 3 hours we gained on the plane. | ||||
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| Day Two – After waking up, eating a little breakfast and packing up camp, we were back on the PCH headed North. We opted to take the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway or The 1) rather than one of the other major highways because, even though it took longer, it took us through a lot of cool towns and landscapes and practically hugs the coast creating some really great scenics. We passed through Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Guadalupe, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay & San Simeon, among others, in route to our next home for the night, Andrew Molera State Park. As we usually do, we took our time, stopping to see the sights and look for potential surf spots. We made a quick stop in Santa Barbara hoping to skate a little skatepark on the beach. Unfortunately, the park was closed because of a skate camp but we made up with that misfortune by grabbing a couple Egg McMuffins from McDonalds. We next stopped off at Pismo Beach, hoping to be able to access the Pismo Sand Dunes. Turns out you can only access them by 4 wheel drive, we figured we’d save that adventure for the next trip. Back on the road up to San Luis Obispo to stop at a few surf shops so John can try and find a board sock for his surfboard. I don’t know if you’ve ever traveled at a high rate of speed with a set of soft racks attached to your roof, but it produces this dreadful humming sound that can melt paint off walls. We thought a board sock might help remedy the situation, but after circling blocks in San luis Obispo in a disoriented fashion, we came up empty handed. Back on the road. Next stop was at a beach in San Simeon called Piedras Blancas, not far from Hearst Castle. This beach is home to hundreds of Elephant Seals. These enormous, vile creatures spend their days napping on the sand. Every once in a while, on would get up, move three feet, then lay back down and take a nap. We weren’t sure if they would be there this time of year, as they don’t start breeding until November, but sure enough, they were. After checking those blubbery bastards out for a bit, we got back on the road North. Not long after, the road transformed from a flat, straight coastal road to a mountainous, steep, winding, fall off and instant death-type of road. Allie laid down to keep from loosing her cookies and I became the passenger seat driver, using my passenger double foot brake whenever death was imminent. We stopped at a few choice vista points, including the famous Bixby Bridge. Before we knew it, we were amongst the redwoods of Julia Pfeiffer State Park. Our destination, Andrew Molera State Park, was just beyond Julia Pfeiffer, so we decided to explore Julia Pfeiffer the next day. Since Andrew Molera State Park doesn’t accept reservations for its 24 campsites, we started to get a worried when we noticed all area campgrounds were full. Our worrying turned genuine when we approached Andrew Molera with a “Campsites FULL” sign by the entrance. | |||||
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| With nowhere else to go, we decided to go into the park anyway and see if the ranger could recommend a place to go. As luck would have it, someone had left early, and there was one site available! Excited about not having to sleep in the car, we parked and started hauling our gear the .25 mile to the site. We set up our tents right next to an overanxious colony of ground squirrels and began exploring the area. We found another trail that leads you directly to a cool little bay, with cliffs overlooking the pacific. The mouth of the bay has potential to be a pretty fun little wave on a decent swell, but it was peeling about knee high so we decided to just explore on foot. We took a ridge line trail up to a bluff that over-looks the bay on one side and the Pacific on the other. It was here where John proposed to Allie! I don’t know if he planned it like this, but it couldn’t have been a better location. I positioned myself a little higher on the bluff while they were sitting on a bench about 200 yards away and discreetly shot some photos of the proposal going down. She of course said yes and they lived happily ever after. We decided to start taking impromptu engagement photos for the rest of the trip which I’ve decided to put in a separate post here on the blog, so look for those. We stayed out on the bluff past sunset then made our way back up the trail to camp, almost getting our eyes gouged out in the process by hungry bats. We cooked dinner under the light of the rising moon, had a nice fire, then crawled in our tents and fell asleep fat and happy to the sound of coyote howls. | |||||
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| Day Three – The next morning we made coffee, packed up and headed down to Julia Pfeiffer State Park. We knew we wanted to come explore this park for 2 reasons; the redwoods and McWay Falls. If you’re not familiar with McWay falls, it is an 80 ft waterfall that flows year-round and empties directly into the ocean. Paired with the blue-green water it’s a sight we didn’t want to miss. Next we headed into the main entrance of the park and did a little hiking. We took a trail that leads up McWay creek to Canyon Trail Falls and McWay Creek Falls a 30 foot waterfall amongst 300 ft redwoods. The trail didn’t seem very well maintained and we had to do a little scrambling, but we made it to the base of the 30 ft waterfall. We did a little more exploring in the park before packing back in the car for the 5 hour drive back down south. Our destination for the evening, Malibu Creek State Park. We made a quick stop in Cambria for lunch and continued on towards Malibu. We had a little bit of trouble finding the state park. First our iPhone directions took us up the opposite side of the mountain then we ended up in a different section of Malibu Creek State Park, but we eventually found it. Of the three areas we camped, this was probably our least favorite. The area was great, but the park just wasn’t very well maintained and the campsites were packed full of people. But we did manage to sneak off and get some good hiking in before dark. I ran off first because I saw some deer and coyotes in the grasslands so I wanted to get some shots before dark. After seeing a couple dozen deer and 3 or 4 coyotes, it was too dark to shoot, so I packed up the gear and we proceeded to hike up a mountain. It was completely dark by the time we got to the top but the views were still incredible. The great thing about these mountains is they have few, if any, trees, so once you get to the top you feel like you’re actually rewarded for your efforts. Generally, Appalachian mountains are heavily forested so once you get to the top, you hardly know it. We got back, set up camp and started dinner. Later when exploring the bathrooms, some kids pointed out a campsite visitor, a tarantula. Yikes. We didn’t have access to any firewood, so no fire tonight. We crashed out early, knowing we had to get up early to make it to Huntington Beach for the US Open of Surfing. | |||||
 
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| Day Four (To be Continued…) – We were surprised to wake up to a little rain and ended up having to pack up camp in the rain, which wasn’t too fun. But our spirits were lifted once we spotted a McDonalds on the way to Huntington… That’s it for Part 1. Cheers. | Keep an eye out for the next post(s) from our 2012 California trip when we stay in Huntington Beach for the US Open…. |
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October 8-11 2011, my brother, his girlfriend, her parents and I took a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They rented a secluded little cabin right outside the eastern boundary of the park. We got there just as the fall colors were starting to peak around 4000 ft. We explored as much as we could in the short time we were there. First thing saturday morning we drove to the Cataloochie area where we explored some historic cabins, saw some Elk herds and did a little 6 mile hike. Next, we hiked 4 miles along Baxter Creek in search of the best waterfall on the eastern side of the Smokies, Mouse Creek falls, while stopping at some of the popular swimming holes, like midnight hole. We arrived back at the cabin, ate chili and cornbread and had a little bonfire.
The next day, we packed up our gear and headed out to a 2-day 16.34 mile loop up and over Mt. Sterling. Here’s a link to the itinerary of the loop,Big Creek Loop. We opted to go the opposite route suggested on the itinerary, hoping to get the 6 mile 4000 ft climb out of the way. It was a pretty challenging climb, but we were glad to get it over with, leaving only downhill hikes for the 10 miles back the next day. Upon arriving at our camping area for the night, Campsite 38, atop Mt. Sterling, we ran across a ranger with a rifle asking us if we had seen any bears. The smokies are known for their abundance of black bears, approx. 1,500 within park boundaries, and while they are normally weary of humans, the ranger informed us one had been stalking hikers and rummaging through the campsite at night searching for food. Not the best thing to hear when you’re about to set up camp, but we tried not to let it bother us. One of the attractions of Mt Sterling is the 350ft fire tower at the top, providing panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. We set up camp, cooked dinner, drank hot chocolate, then went to bed, hoping to not be awaken by a hungry bear. The next day we continued along Mt Sterling Ridge trail and begun our descent down the mountain. As expected, this stretch was much less strenuous than the previous hike up, which made the hike down a breeze. We stopped at a few places around baxter creek trail to explore some fallen rocks, waterfalls and caves along the creek. We got back to the cabin around 5, just in time for a delicious meal and some more bonfire relaxing.
The final day was kind of hectic, there were two areas where we really wanted to go, but they were on the opposite side of the park, Clingmans Dome and Cades Cove. So after checking out at the cabin we started the trek. There aren’t many roads that transverse the Smokies and the ones that do, while scenic, and very slow moving. It took us a couple hours to get up to Clingmans Dome, after a little detour cruise on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Clingmans Dome is a 6,643 foot observation tower, the highest point in the Smokies. Unfortunately after the mile hike to the top, we found it covered in a cloud. So after that was a bust, we continued on the Cades Cove. Cades Cove is an 11 mile loop circling a 6800 acre valley and a very common spot for wildlife viewing. We ended up seeing a couple bears, deer and turkeys. It’s pretty obvious when any wildlife is spotted because every tourist in a 100 mile radius flocks to it with their point and shoots. Thankfully they have rangers present to protect the animals and keep the tourists at a distance. Next time I’ll definitely have to go much earlier to beat the crowds. All in all is was a great trip. The Smokies are one of my favorite areas of the NC mountains and I’m sure it won’t be long before my next visit.
This is the third, and last, part of my California trip. I had so many photos from the trip, I decided to break the post up into three sections. Part one consists of our arrival to San Diego March 14, 2011 and our travels throughout Southern California. You can view that post here. Part Two covers our trip from San Diego to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway. That post can be viewed here. This last post will be the stories and photos from our time in San Francisco.
We arrived in San Francisco Friday afternoon, March 18th. We went straight to our hotel, The San Francisco Inn on Lombard Street. After unloading our luggage, we hit the streets headed out for some urban adventuring. Our friends Brett and Ashley got there the day before and were out doing some exploring of their own. Our first stop was to the Pier at the end of Van Ness Ave for some great views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the city of San Fran. Next we headed to the first shop we could find to pick up some umbrellas, as it had been raining off and on all day. One of my main goals was to go to Pier 39 where the Sea Lions have taken over the docks. So we headed down Jefferson St towards the Sea Lions, passing through fishermans wharf and a few shops on the way. We finally made it to Pier 39, it was pretty crazy how hundreds of these Sea Lions were fat and happy just laying on these docks all day. The extreme weight of all the Sea Lions, which weigh about 800 lbs each, were causing some of the docks to be partially submerged. They were mostly just sleeping but every once one would belch out their trademark “AARRFFF” sound and try to bite their friends. I think I only saw one with its eyes open and that was when he was biting his neighbor.
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After we visited the Sea Lions, we made the walk back to the hotel to meet up with Brett and Ashley. We decided it would be a good idea to walk 20 or so blocks to a mall in San Fran. So we loaded up on Starbucks and hit the sidewalk. Not only did it end up being a longer walk than we had thought but it was starting to get dark before we got there. I’ve never seen so many homeless people, asians and drug dealers in my life. It was definitely one of the sketchier situations of the trip. I didn’t bring my camera with me on this excursion, which was probably for the best because we probably most certainly would of gotten mugged. We literally saw some drug deals take place right in front of us. But we eventually made it to the mall in one piece, and besides having to pay to use the restroom, we went to some really cool stores. And we made sure to take a taxi back. We topped off the evening by having a great dinner at a Italian restaurant down the street.
The next day we started off by grabbing some breakfast burritos and coffee at a little cafe across the street from our hotel. We then split up, Brett, Ashley and I made the drive to Oakland to meet up with the famous pro rollerblader Brian Shima at a little restaurant owned by the drummer for Green Day. John and Allie stayed around the hotel because John was selling the surfboard he bought in San Clemente. We had this meeting with Shima because Brett is in the process of designing a skate for Shima’s new skate brand; Shima Manufacturing. After returning from Oakland and driving down the imfamous “Zig-Zag” road on Lombard st, we met back with John and Allie, and headed to a couple locations for viewing the Golden Gate Bridge. First we went to a little touristy spot before heading up to the Marin Headlands. This was a spot I had mapped out beforehand that I really wanted to go to, so I was psyched to get to it. After that we went a checked out Ashbury/Haight streets (where the hippies hangout), Alamo Square (famous from the TV show Full House and the movie Mrs. Doubtfire) among other little parks and whatnot. Another thing I mapped out to do was shoot the sunset at Rodeo Beach. Rodeo Beach is located in Marin County just over the Golden Gate bridge and features some really cool rock formations. We also came across some epic views of the Golden Gate Bridge at night.
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Well that wraps up the trip. The next morning we started our voyage back to good old North Carolina. Had an incredible time, just wish we had more time to do more stuff. Can’t wait till the next trip to the westcoast!
