Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

(Google web photo)

Point Lobo State Natural Reserve is south of Monterey, Carmel by the Sea, and Pebble Beach, CA.

It is land that was once used for Abalone harvesting and canning and later for WWII training and as a state reserve it is now protected land.

Parking in the reserve is distributed with small lots that fill up fast.  I got the last parking space in this lot used by divers.

This cove is protected and makes for a good place for diving.

Looking north across the bay to Pebble Beach and in the forefront are rock outcroppings that can be found continuing south to Big Sur.

The branch on this tree helps frame the rock out in the ocean, just off shore.

Further out on the peninsula is this smaller cove with aquamarine color water.  It looks warm but it isn't.

Another view of the cove.

The hiking trail go along the edge of the peninsula and make for great picture taking.

At the tip of the peninsula I take the above photo looking south towards Big Sur.  The sun is low in the sky this time of year even though it is midday and that gives a different look to my picture.

Out in the water from here there are seals and sea lions on the rocks.  Sea Otters float with the kelp to relax.

(Screen sit of AllTrails App of my hike)

Here is the hike today.  3.7 miles and 301 elevation change.

The State charges $10.00 and $9.00 for over 62 and it is well worth it as an entrance fee for vehicles.  There is no charge for people that walk in so many choose to park on CA1 and walk on.

We met no less than 4 volunteer dosers that were giving tours and explaining nature and wildlife.  

One had spotting scopes set up with one to see the sea otters and the other the sea lions.

There is plenty left to explore for a return trip.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Acer And His Flying Machine

(Google satellite map of Fort Ord State Park)

A Tuesday afternoon drive to the Fort Ord State Park brought me back to the beach just south of the Marina Reserve, at the suggestion of my son. See Marina Reserve Blog Post)

Fort Ord is an old Army base just north of Monterey with old barracks buildings stand in disrepair along CA highway 1.

Here I met Acer and his Flying Machine.  Acer is a thirty-something who was in the US Navy where he had a number of specialized training that he speaks favorable about.  

Today he is excited to fly his powered hang glider for the first time since his training in Florida.  He lives locally here.

He has checked out this spot before as a good place to meet his needs for taking off but he would rather have an open field.

Above he has layed out his parasail and is pulling on it to see that it picks up the steady ocean breeze and it does.

Here Acer is estimating his runway distance where he looks for distance to the shore where high tide waves are waining to give him more space on the shore.

In the foreground is a concern for him with exposed concrete structures that are left over from years gone by when Fort Ord was still active Millitary.

After pacing off the distance and running in the sand he is preparing his seated strap on propeller and make the connection to the parasail.

Before he makes his way up to the parasail, he makes a stop over to his audience of two to explain that he is concerned about the steeper drop off than he has seen before exposing the concrete.  My quick look at the concrete block I see it is exposed 5 feet.  

Thinking to myself wow that's a lot of missing beach or is he mistaken.

In Acer's favor is the steady light wind and his desire to make his 7th flight after training gave him 6 in Florida.

He went up the draw and connected with his 80 horsepower engine running to the parasail.  He then pulled on the parasail and as he was going to turn around and run with it to take off.  Then you can see in the picture above the wind at the higher elevation gave out on one side drooping the one end crashing his dream. At least not crashing himself.

He came back and explained that a sail that doesn't fill completely and equally is one of the few reasons not to attempt takeoff.

With a disheartened tone in his voice he resigns to the fact that today is not the day for his first flight on the west coast.  

He begins the process of picking up his parasail and then arranging his seated strap on motor with propeller to hike out of the beach.  I was disappointed for him as he was at a quandary of other places he can use as a runway not to cause problems or public concern.

I offered and carried out the now backpacked parasail.

Acer had the hard job of hiking out with the 45 lb contraption strapped to his back and butt so he walks a bit bent forward.

Back at the parking lot he gets to his newer Jeep CJ where his vehicle interior is not sufficient size to carry the assembled backpacked motor propeller assembly, so he needs to disassemble the yellow ring to get it to fit.

He plans on a trip to Harbor a freight for a hitch platform to carry it in the future.

I asked Acer how much money was he into this hobby and he said all together the equipment and training in Florida it is $9,500.

We shook hands and I wished him well when he gets his first flight here.

(Google map)

Here is a map of the area that Acer was looking to take off.  When I got back to my son's house I was curious if he was wrong about the missing beach.

As you can see Acer was right that the beach was there when the aerial photo was taken.  

Recent strong storms generally blamed on El Niño has taken the beach away.  That's about 5 feet of beach depth to expose that concrete block.

In the news here is about a an apartment complex about to fall into the Pacific Ocean in Pacifica, CA.  Strong storms have weeded the sea cliffs to the point that the building is no longer safe.  

Web article on Pacificia: http://abcnews.go.com/US/dramatic-photos-show-apartments-feet-falling-ocean/story?id=36528327

The story explains how strong the  storms are in shifting the shoreline.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Marina Dunes Preserve

Coming to visit my west coast son and family in Monterey, CA means enjoying the ocean, as even in the winter the air temperatures rise into the 60's.

Just a few miles north of Monterey is Marina and I'm visiting the Marina Dubes Preserve today (Monday).

There are fragile dunes here and you need to stay on the path to protect the growth that holds the dunes in place. 

There are miles of beaches in both directions on Monterey Bay.  Here I am looking north towards Santa Cruz.

This picture is looking south to Monterey.

These beaches don't have bathers this time of year.  There are though a number of people surf fishing and others walking.

If you are looking for the ability to walk beaches with basically no one on them.  This is the place.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Kit Carson Park - Chance For Disc Golf

When my CA son called and asked me to drive to San Diego, as I was driving to his house in Monterey, I quickly thought I had time to play some disc golf beforbi look at houses for him.

The Kit Carson park disc golf course is a good course to play but being a Saturday and only having 2 hours to spare I might have a hard time to get to play.

I checked the first tee and it was backed up so the 4th tee was rightbnextvyo me and had just cleared, do I jumped in and started my game.

I played past this nasty snake sticking out of the ground

My first tees were nothing I would want to mention.  I felt rusty!

Eventually I got my game on and had a number of par 3 holes that I layed up with my second throw to par with a reasonable putt.

I played thought the 15th hole getting a bit backed up after the 10th and having to wait for people in front of me.

On the 16th I could see a jam up of players so as it worked out it was time to head to the house showings.

I'm glad I got the time to play as I enjoy the game a lot.  It has been about a year and a half since playing Kit Carson Park when my son last lived here. I look forward to my son and family moving back so I can get back to playing in the area.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

House Hunting - San Diego

I left Ocotillo Wells Saturday morning with the goal to surprise my granddaughters in Monterey, CA with my early arrivalSaturday night.  

I had originally planned to arrive early in the week but I wouldn't have much time with the granddaughters until the following weekend due to school.  

I had received a phone call from the west coast family Friday evening with my youngest granddaughter pleading for me to get there.

So I got an early start Saturday for the 7 hour drive to Monterey and headed up the west side of the Salton Sea through Mecca and picked up I10 in Indio.  You can see snow in the mountains from here.

Soon I was in Palm Springs, passing the sign to Joshua Tree (National Park) and Twentynine Palms.  Then passing through the many windmills.

Then I got a call from my West Coast son who is a Marine Officer, and who was tracking my progress live.  He asks if I would head to San Diego and look at a couple of houses for him and his wife.  

They are looking at buying a house in San Diego as he has received orders for his next assignment there.

I will do just about anything for my two boys, so getting the request I take it seriously. I obviously said yes.

Now I had driven for nearly 2 hours and nearly 120 miles north, my saying yes meant heading back south to San Diego another 120 miles and 2 hours to meet the realators during open houses in the afternoon.

A quick mental calculation gave me a two hour leeway that I could use to stop in Escondido, CA at the Kit Carson Park to play disc golf. See separate blog about my disc golf stop.

I was only a few miles away from CA60 to pick up I215 in Riverdide to head south to I15 to San Diago.  I made the turn and if all goes well and I hold up I still could arrive in Monterey by midnight even with the extra driving.

At the first house I met Marlene, who was not the sales rep for the house but showing it.

Right off the bat I found the roof was near the end of its life.  You can see shingles were replaced where other main roof transitions to the extended summer room.  This is often done because of a leak.  A close look shows significant shingle wear. 

The problems didn't end here.  The once screen room was made into s room and it appears to have been done without a permit.  A quick look shows that there are no outlets on 3 walls. Basically the people that flipped the house were selling it with out the new square footage being added to the tax roles but never doing the work to code.

Marlene was very nice and she liked me looking over the house.  I have her feedback as I uncovered them.  

In addition to the above, the plastering was terrible.  Big textured marks that weren't sanded and walks and ceiling were not textured.  Painting inside was done without removing switch and outlet plates so pain were on all of them.  We couldn't find the thermostat.  We figured they just plastered over the hole that must have been in the hall.  Also there was no attic access.  The washer and dryer connections are in the garage that is attached but without access from house.  So all laundry would have to be hauled outside to the attached garage. 

The vinyl siding was just spray painted with overspray visible in places that were obviulous.

All these houses built in the 60's have 100 amp services.  If you have a gas stove and dryer this isn't a problem, but if you have a stove it is 50 amps and a dryer is 30 amps so at 80 amps used up with two appliances there is no ability to run air conditioning if you put one in.  The first house had both appliances has so there was no issue.  

On the good side is the neighborhood.  If someone was to by they need to get the permitting fixed and then get substantial discounts from asking price to fix the issues.

At the second house I met Daniel and he was also nice about my house inspection.  This house was about 1.5 miles from the first.  Right off the bat the house was built better and had much nicer landscaping.

The house was updated without such problems found on the previous house.  The roof was new and inside plaster and painting was done correctly. There were newer Windows and insulation policy in attic.

The biggest problem with the second house was the electrical service as it too only has a 100 amp service and the stove and dryer were both electric and my son wants to have A/C put in so the appliances would have to change or the electrical service would have to be upgraded to at least 150 amps.

My son and daughter in-law have put an offer on on another house in this same area and they wanted input on these as possible backup.

I suspect I may be asked to check other places while in roaming the southwest if their offer is not accepted.

I finished looking at the two houses at 2:30 and started heading to Monterey again with a 7 hour eta without stops.

I drive for four hours and spent Saturday night in a rest area on I5 as I was too tired to continue.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com 

Julian Pies

While visiting Borrego Springs, CA I got the idea of driving up into the mountains west of here to the town of Julian, CA.

(Map from Google Maps)

Julian is about half way between the Salton Sea and San Diego in the mountains between the two.

The drive/climb up in the car was beautiful although not being a sunny day.

Basically all the land you see above is part of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. 

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=638

In this view closer in is the Anza Borrego Desert State Park and further out is the Ocotillo Wells State Recreation Area, both are operated by the State of California.

The best part is that both offer free disbursed camping.  More on these two State Areas in a separate post.

Upon reaching the top of the mountains the land levels out to sloping land with hills.

I arrive in Julian in less than an hour

There are a few companies that make pies, with Apple the most popular.  I visit Mom's.  It's been many years since I've been here.  

Apple dumplings are just the right size for me!

Back at me camp with desert after I cook my pork rib dinner.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Borrego Springs

(Picture of local guide)

Just up CA 78 from Ocotillo Wells Recreation Area where I was camping is Borrego Springs and more great disbursed Camping.

Nestled in the Anza-Borrego Springs State Park is the town of Borrego Springs.

Friday morning first thing in the AM I took the drive up to the town to check it out.

On the way into town metal artwork starts to show up along the side of the road and then a bit off the road in the desert.  There are many types of metal sculptures depicting western life and ancient animals that roamed the earth in this location millions of years ago.

For information about the aer and more pictures see the following link.

http://www.desertusa.com/borrego/bs-art.html

It was just 9:00 arriving in the center of town (Christmas Circle)

I walked around and talked to a few of the vendors and bought a couple small things.

(Picture of State Park Brochure)

I got this brochure from the visitors center at the Ocotillo Wells State Recreation Area Visitors office that gave me the idea of checking out the area.

(Picture of map of Anza-Borrego Springs State Park land)

You can see the top center gray area.  This is the town.  The park is just huge and yes others than the few Park campgrounds it is all free disbursed camping.

Here are the published Primative (Disbursed) camping rules.

I arrived at the visitors center just west of the center of town and spoke with the ranger staff.

Here is a list of formal campgrounds.  The ones with dollars are fee based.  The rest are campgrounds but limited facilities.

For me the Ocotillo Wells Area where I was staying was great as it was free and had cheap clean showers flush and pit toilets that were great too, but there is no water so a drive into Borrego Springs to the visitor center of the park there is free water at the spigot next to the bathroom for that purpose. 

The message is that if you disburse camp at either state location you can share the services of both and have what you need all free!

I took off for a few hours to climb the mountains between here and San Diego to visit Julian, CA for their famous pies.  (See separate blog on Julisn Pies)

Upon my return to Borrego Springs I met up with MJ (not her real name) that I had met at the RTR as she had said she may be coming to Borrego Springs.  I had sent her an email while in Julian and she was in town so we met in the center of town on Christmas Circle.  It was nice to catch up with her since last week.

Since there is no McDonalds in town we spent an hour at the library for Internet.

We also went shopping at the local market for some supplies.  I got a small package of pork ribs and a small package of chicken breast strips gor under $6.00.

MJ had offered for me to stay on Anza-Borrego Springs State land disbursed camping but the spot she had (picture above) didn't have AT&T service for me to blog, so I went back to Ocotillo Wells where I had spent the previous night.  (See separate blog on my experience at Ocotillo Wells)

Here is another metal sculpture as you enter town.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com