Big Sur

PC: B.Fleming (btfleming.com)

When I was six years old my family took a family vacation to California for close to two weeks. We flew into LA, drove up to see family in Paso Robles, on to Yosemite, and ended in San Francisco. While that trip was over 15 years ago, I’ve always remembered how absolutely beautiful the coast is stretching from LA to San Francisco. Since moving here I’ve been itching to make it back up, and this past weekend I finally did!

I was out of bed and piling my overnight bag, backpack, excessive amount of camera gear and food into my brother’s car before the sun was even up. From LA we drove North to Paso Robles to pick up some friends who were joining us, grabbed some local strawberries and snap peas from the farmers market, and continued on to Big Sur!

Gear drying out in the sun after the morning dew.

One of the hardest parts of camping in California, or anywhere with good weather almost year round, is finding a camp site. Big Sur is no exception. All the campgrounds were booked, so we knew going into this drive that we may not be able to find an open first-come first-serve spot.

After doing some research and relying on friend’s knowledge, we were able to find an AMAZING spot close to Plaskett creek Campground. This campground is along Jade Cove, located north of Gorda.

Because our site was not a designated camp site, we had to haul our gear 200 yards up a hill/cliff. Luckily we were able to lighten our load a little by only using two tents for the 5 of us (Marmot 3 Person and Marmot 2 Person).  Also, because we were only staying one night we left the majority of our clothes in the car, and made a quick trip got a quick workout in whenever we needed anything from the car.

After setting up camp around noon, we headed down to the beach to explore the rocky coast.  The tides were very high because of the full moon, and the beach was much smaller and much rockier than the previous year when Ben and Hannah had been there. But we still had a blast soaking our toes until they were numb in the ocean, and following trails along the coast!

For dinner we went the easy route with dehydrated meals, Veggie Burrito Bowls for me (with tortilla chips this time!), and Chicken Pad Thai for the meat eaters. Without access to any type of facilities for doing dishes, this really is the best route. After an amazing sunset view overlooking the PCH, we enjoyed some S’mores and good conversation before heading to bed.

PC: H. Labadie (HannahLabadie.com)

Breakfast before heading back down the coast was a camp staple: Coffee and Oatmeal. BUT we actually remembered the craisins, peanut butter and cinnamon, all topped with fresh strawberries!

We stopped at Elephant Seals lookout on the way back to LA, took a quick walk down the coast, and stopped in San Luis Obisbo for an Acai Bowl.

This was an amazing 48 hours, and I can’t wait to go even further north. Now, my bags are packed and i'm off to Joshua Tree for the weekend!!