A trip to the Golden Mountain

Anyone can testify: I’m addicted to my creature comforts. And yet, camping this weekend with my significant other and friends on California’s central coast was truly enjoyable, in spite of the fact that we forgot to bring: sleeping bags, flashlights, thermos, and water. I guess that’s the upside of civilization for air-heads like us – you can head out for 48 hours of off-the grid nature bliss and still pick up everything you forgot on your way there.

For those who’ve never been camping in California, here’s my recommendation: do it fast, before they pour cement all over and build exorbitant condos for stock market speculators who like a view on weekends. So maybe I’m exaggerating, but it feels like there are very few pristine places left throughout this country, and even though California has more than its fair share of it, the green zones are shrinking. Our 5-hour drive from San Francisco to the Montana de Oro State Park near St. Luis Obispo reinforced this impression with hundreds upon hundreds of miles of nondescript highways punctuated with identical-looking rest-stops and shopping malls. It is a hot, sad world of dust, discounted shopping and air conditioning. In brief, we’re paying for our oversized ice lattes with acres of trees.

But at the end of this sad ride along the temples of consumerism, lay one of the most spectacular views I’ve seen in this state: Spooner’s Cove in Montana de Oro (the Golden Mountain) in San Luis Obispo county. Our camp site was a half mile away from the beach, and was already heavily populated with campers of all ages and races, boasting all sorts of equipment, from the humble generic trailer to the Star Trek-looking shiny bullets of newer generations.

Courtesy of: Colin Chu

We had it all there: the hills surrounded the camping site, the beach was within walking distance, and biking/walking/horse riding trails galore. Thankfully, what we forgot in necessities we had more than made up for in luxuries: an inflatable mattress that filled the bottom third of our tent to cozy perfection, more food that we could even dream to eat, and plenty of folding chairs. The inflatable mattress proved to be a source of comfort as well as entertainment.  Our neighbors gleefully announced us in the morning that it had sounded like we were “molesting a balloon” at night.

We hiked through these splendid hills

And took in these unusual sights. My theory:
that tree is the center of the universe

I’ll end with just a few more words about the coast at Spooner’s Cove and surroundings:  a Portuguese explorer named Morro Bay’s landmark cliff “El Morro”and to this day there is some confusion whether he did it because that’s Spanish for crown-shaped hill or because it reminded him of the turban-clad head of a Moor. 

The Morro Rock is the last of the 'Nine Sisters', volcanic plugs that include nine peaks ranging from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay. One of the more popular theories about their formation is that they erupted along old fault lines, leading to a hot spot deep within the earth, and they may have formed south of the region with their remnants moving along the San Andreas fault to their current positions.

Crawling up the coast along the San Andreas fault and folding on themselves would explain why parts of this spectacular, rocky beach look like the many upturned steps to a gigantic creamy temple sunk deep into the ground.

The steps were everywhere, ready for goats like us to climb them.

And sometimes they were covered in algae,
looking a little like giant mineral tigers.

Last, but not least: I have to give credit where credit is due and thank Janlee for feeding us elaborate, delicious feast-like meals worthy of royal banquets (carnitas, home-made granola, steaks with quinoa and mushrooms), Bob for being himself and lighting our fire, selecting incredible  folding furniture and keeping things together (two thumbs up to you, too, Bob), and to Colin for being the wonderful travel companion that he is, for taking a camera when nobody else did, for using it to take ah-mazing photos and promptly sharing them, and of course, to Ed, for being mine.