Left Thursday May 19, returned Sunday May 22 (from Simi Valley)
It takes about 4.5 hours to get to LimeKiln State Park, or Salmon Creek (with no or minimal stops and traffic).
We had reservations for 2 nights of camping at Limekiln State Park.
We stopped at Cambria for lunch on the way to Limekiln. Another stop along the highway at a lookout before the park. We chose a creekside spot to camp. The ocean sites felt like a gravel parking lot. Being under the bridge probably wouldn’t have detracted from it though. Some in the ocean-site area were next to the stream as well.
Limekiln boasts 3 hiking trails, each about ½ mile long. They all go through Coast Redwood forest and follow alongside creeks. That afternoon / evening we hiked the waterfall trail. The trail maintenance was quite interesting (to us trail worker-types). Later we watched the waves pound the beach.
Friday morning, went on a bike ride. Very windy road driving up to the ‘trailhead’ (S of Limekiln a few miles… see Central CA biking book). Fire road riding was not that fun, though the wildflowers were amazing, possibly owing to the fire the area had obviously endured sometime in the past few years. We did stash the bikes at the hiking trail to Cone Peak as my book suggested, and hiked most of the way but not all.
Back at the camp, it was great to have a hot shower! Coin-operated ones were just fine, only 50 cents (6 minutes) was all I needed.
Friday evening, we hiked the Waterfall trail again (wanted more lighted pictures), and the Kiln trail. On the way back spotted a bench and sat for many minutes, letting our eyes lazily fall on either the two creeks joining near that spot or the silent, calming Redwoods. I took a panoramic set of photos, but they really don’t do justice to the place. Later we again spent some time watching the waves at the beach.
Camping next to the creek was awesome. So soothing to sleep by. We picked site 22, probably the farthest away from a bathroom (the only drawback), but may have been the most secluded. The sites at Limekiln are pretty small – 2 cars max, but some spots probably not even that.
Saturday morning, we headed to Pfeiffer Big Sur. The trails and waterfall were not as nice; except for the redwood trail (part of which was closed), it was much like Southern California. The waterfall was not as interesting either and seemed rather artificial (the design around it was, to some extent). In hindsight… what I wish we’d done was hang out at the river, there were people wading/swimming and that looked like a lot of fun. It was a pretty warm day too, making it even more inviting I’m sure.
On the way to Carmel-by-the-Sea, we stopped to admire and take photographs of the Bixby Bridge and surrounding surf. At Carmel, it was back to civilization, good and bad. We had dinner at “The Forge in the Forest” – very good. It was a nice change to be in a city that is agreeable to walking to places. I read somewhere Carmel is described as kind of like England; in this respect I would agree. We didn’t really do anything else there. If in the neighborhood it wouldn’t be a bad thing to explore some more… though if it was a choice between Carmel and a place like Limekiln I would probably choose the latter.
Sunday we left earlier than planned but got back later than planned. It was worth it though… 2 notable stops
along the way: at Salmon Creek, Hwy 1 curves inland, and at the curve I spotted
a waterfall. We stopped, and
hiked/boulder hopped (probably < a half mile) to the spot – by far the best
waterfall of the trip! And possibly the
best I’d ever seen. Lots of nice
boulders to watch it from, and the spray felt really nice on the warm day. The water was pretty cold when I dipped my
feet in – invigorating! Finally we tore
ourselves away. The next stop was at
Piedras Blancas; from the road we spotted hundreds – no, thousands – of
elephant seals. Quite a site! I guess they only do that for a short time
each year, and have colonized that stretch of beach over the last few decades.
Traffic by Santa Barbara sucked, otherwise the rest of the drive home was pretty uneventful.
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