Big Sur Pt. 2

Our second day in Big Sur began with a peaceful morning at our campsite. We were sitting outside reading and drinking coffee around 10am when all of a sudden Owen and his girlfriend Erin appeared! We knew they were in Big Sur, staying at a treehouse campground/hotel, but we hadn't told them where exactly we were staying. Big Sur is a small enough place, however, to find your friends by stopping in the few campgrounds along Highway 1. It was a nice surprise and we made plans to stay with them in San Francisco on the way back up.

We had made it to the end of the line (where the road was closed) in Big Sur the previous day, so we were already on our way back up north. We decided to snag a campsite at Limekiln State Park which was full the day before. The camp host was really nice and gave us a good spot just a few yards from the start of the beach. She told us that that night was a King Tide so we couldn't be in the closest spot but alas, we were still quite close and had an unobstructed view.

The rest of the day we spent on the beach, reading at the campsite and hiking up to the lime kilns, the park's namesake and where lime was harvested and extracted using the large iron kilns from 1887 to 1890. The weather was cool and sunny.

The trail split off at one point to go to Limekiln Falls, a pretty waterfall cascading over rocks and fallen trees.

That night we watched the sunset then had our final campfire, listening to the ocean and enjoying our expensive beer from the local shop.

In the morning we took showers, packed up and left. We stopped again on the way out to walk some of the trail systems by the water to see as much as we could in the time we had left.

Once out of Big Sur, we stopped at Point Lobos State Reserve outside of Carmel. They had a pretty big walking trail system throughout the reserve that took us down to the water where there was CRAZY bird action going on. Pelicans, sea gulls, other birds (I don't know that much about birds) were all flocking and diving in feeding frenzies in multiple coves. We also saw harbor seals swimming through the kelp beds.

Up at the point of the reserve we walked through a beautiful cypress grove and looked out over the water for sea lions but didn't see any.

Through the cypress grove:

Point Lobos Overlooks:

The trail back to the parking lot was lined with trees draped in lichen.

We stayed in the park till the sun set, then left for another night at the Salinas Walmart.