Central California Coast

We just returned from a week on the central California Coast. A trip we never would have considered in a tent!
We camped at San Simeon Sate Park -just south of Hearst Castle, north of Cambria. We had stopped there in June and seen the juvenile male elephant seals. Based on the seals life history, we figured late Jan/early Feb would be a great time to see the colony in full swing. We were not disappointed -7 miles of beach with 15000 elephant seals, 4000 new pups, males battling over harems, births, mating -it was all there!

From a camping perspective -it was a great week to be there. The weather was WARMER than in June (no fog and lots of sunshine!), the campground only had 3-8 rigs per night -so very quiet with lots of dazzling stars. One late afternoon, we had a bobcat hanging out and sunning itself at the next campsite (that was empty).
The biggest downside -it got dark at 6PM. So we did a lot of reading and used up the battery -so we had to resort to flashlights by the end of the week. At which point the water tank was empty, so we just used a water jerry jug on the tables for water and dishes. CA State Parks have no electrical hookups, except in a few rare places. We headed up the coast to Lucia and checked out Limekiln St PK and 2 Forest Service campgrounds that looked spectacular -on a bluff with a view of the ocean from almost every site! Hope to get back up there soon.
The other WIERD thing about this trip - NO TOURS, lookie loos, etc....We did see a vintage teardrop pass us by at one point.

Eileen