August 11th, 2024

Distance: 7.3 miles
Time: 3:06

After several failed starts (including few weeks of my randomly not starting in the morning, which I eventually traced to a lose negative terminal battery connection), we finally set off on a road trip towards San Luis Obispo to go check out the the Montaña de Oro state park. I found the name intriguing on prior drives up the 101, but this was our first time out here. The park is just south of Morro Bay, where we heard kayaking to be excellent. An earlier plan was to spend a night in Morro Bay, but after seeing hotel room prices, we opted for the downgraded day trip. So sometimes in the future we will need to do a separate trip to checkout Morro Bay. On this trip we essentially ended up doing the Valencia Peak and Bluff Trail Loop recommended by AllTrails. A map of our hike GPS track is shown below. The whole trip ended up being slightly over 7 miles long, with 1,545 feet of total climbing, mostly in the beggining on the way up to the 1,314 ft summit.

The drive in was quite easy, with surprisingly no fee to enter the park. Parking at the "Pecho Valley Road" and "Bluff Trail" intersection parking lot was plentiful. From there we headed left on a connector trail towards the Rattlesnake Flats trail, which took us to fire road, eventually leading to Badger trail, and then finally the Valencia Peak trail. The whole area was covered in magical fog. The fog started to lift as we ascended towards the Valencia peak summit. We barely saw anyone on this first part of the hike, and even then, only on the final section heading to the summit.

After a lunch break at the summit, we descended down Valencia Peak trail all the way to the road, where we picked up the Bluff Trail. This is where we saw more people, but it was not particularly crowded. In fact, most people stayed on the main trail, and some of the side trails led to spectacular lookouts with nobody there. This is a very scenic area, and I am glad we made it here on a foggy day.

On the way home we stopped by Pismo Beach. This was another place that was new to us. I expected some quaint seaside town but instead we found a Virginia Beach-like pandemonium. Traffic getting in was nuts. I pulled off the standstill congestion on the main road and made it to a beach-side street with free parking just as a car was pulling out. Amazing luck! From there, we walked on the sand to the pier. Then on the way back, this time through the streets, we looked for a place to eat. Mo's Smokehouse seemed like an interesting choice, and I am glad we stopped by here. Seating is very tight, but the ribs were excellent. I also enjoyed checking out photos from the founder's road trip throught the American barbecue "belt" (did not know there was such a belt).

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