March 5, 2026 - FINS to Lost Lake

 

Title: March 5, 2026 - FINS to Lost Lake
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head: FINS Parking area

Trail: Lost Lake

Destination: End of trail

Actual Destination: Most of trail until it got muddy

Distance:  5.41 miles

Start Time: 7:35

End Time: 10:29

Travel Time: 2:52  (1.89 mph)

Moving Time: 2:19   (2.33 mph)

Elevation Rise: 354 '

Descent: 304‘

Maximum Elevation: 325'

Minimum Elevation: 270'

GPS Tracks

Description:

I got out of bed at 5:30 and was on the road to the Sportsman store by 6:45, arriving a few minutes before 7:00. Jerry of the Central Valley Hiking Group has organized this hike and is there right at 7:00. The other hiker here is Lucia. That is all which we have going with us. Three others dropped out. I drove us to the FINS near Friant.

Jerry assures us that this would be a hike I can do in my tennis shoes. I still bring along my poles-I feel more stable with them. I have not done this hike before, so I am interested in doing the trail. Plus Jerry assures me that this will be an easy hike-I think it should be. The last time I hiked with Jerry, I struggled.

The trail out of the parking lot leads us past the Friant Fish Hatchery, actually called the San Joaquin Fish Hatchery. We do not enter in as it appears to be still close-it is before 8 after all. The trail is paved and is a gentle downslope to get down closer to the river. There are also stairs which we descend-more on these later. When we reach the level of the hatchery, there is a Small Fries Children’s Trail going off to the side. We take that. It shows how trout develop. It only takes us a minute to walk through it.

Maybe a flume?

After rejoining the trail, we cross a bridge over what looks like a flume, but I am not sure about that. A short distance away we come to the eastern end of the Lost Lake campground. Rather than walking the road, Jerry leads us through the wet grass, from the dew, by the San Joaquin River.

We do not really walk by the river, rather behind some bushes which line the river. Occasionally there are holes in the line of bushes which gives us a chance to peer into the river environs. One of the benefits of walking this early is that the sunlight gets filtered, making the colors accentuated. Lots of yellows and greens. Then there are the geese and ducks which flock on both banks.

There becomes a standing joke that someone will give some money if they walk on some plants which line our side of the river. Even though sometimes these plants look pretty solid, they are floating on water. Nobody takes the offer, but if someone did, they would be taking it with a splash.

We also see lots of mistletoe in the trees-they look pretty healthy. Many of the trees look like they are still in Winter mode as we do not even see the start of leaves. Still there is enough foliage for us to enjoy a pleasant morning.

We make it through all of the campsites. This brings us to the Lost Lake Nature Trail on the south side of the park. I have walked this trail before, many years ago. Then the trail was more a bunch of use paths, resembling the Hydra of Greek mythology. I was reading that a couple of years ago, the County invested a good sum of money to make the trail easy to walk and very evident where to go. I wonder if the County will be putting up interpretive signs as well?

 

Lucia and Jerry

We got a ways down the trail when we needed to cross over a semi-fallen tree. Then, to go with the steeplechase motif, the trail turns muddy. Jerry looks ahead and it does not look very promising. We turned around rather than slosh through the slime.

Jerry had wanted to make it a loop by following the trail to the end. There it would go up the 50’ bank. We would then have a view of the snowy mountains to the east. We returned the same way we came until we came to a use trail up the slope and we followed it. This puts us at the sixth hole of the frisbee golf course. This looks over a gravel pit. We had a discussion about where we lose the lake? Turns out that the large gravel pit is where Lost Lake resides when there is water in it.

We go back down our use trail and quickly come back to the campground. We stopped for a few minutes at a picnic bench by the river. Then off we go again. We do not stop nearly as often going back as we did coming in. Still, we enjoyed the walk. I surprised myself as I still had a pretty bouncing step rather than my usual walks lately where the last mile the feet are dragging.

Mosaic Stairway

Jerry was hoping the fish hatchery would be open and we would walk through it. While the gate was open, the other end did not look promising. But there is a last bit of eye candy. Those stairs we came down? Going up we can see that there is a mosaic mural which comes into view as we face it. Not only is there one, but there is another on the steps below us and another above the one showing.

We get back to the car and I drive everyone back to the Sportsman store. When I get home, it is just past 11, right when I said I would be home by. While a little tired, I still was able to work on our patio renovation in the afternoon.

Extra Photo's

Interesting stone building at Lost Lake

A bunch of purple flowers across the San Joaquin, maybe lupine

Jerry and Lucia

Interesting river plant life

Animals

 
Flowers and Plants

February 22, 2026 - Coast

 

Title: February 22, 2026 - Coast
Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Bluff’s Trail

Trail: Montana de Oro parking area

Destination: end of trail

Actual Destination: Most of the trail, right before it turns east

Distance:  3.07 miles 

Start Time: 3:07

End Time:  4:56

Travel Time:   1:48 (1.70 mph)

Moving Time: 1:20   (2.30 mph)

Elevation Rise: 229'

Descent: 226‘

Maximum Elevation: 86'

Minimum Elevation: 5' - This is too low

GPS Tracks

 From  Google Maps:

Mileage: 114 miles

Drive Time:  2:21

Description:

Today’s possible activities:

• 

  Solvang

  Solvang
• Pismo Beach Outlets
• Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove
• Montana de Oro Bluff’s trail

Yesterday, we did nothing on our list. Will we do any better today? We will see at the end of the day.

I got up at 7:15 and took my shower. Then continued to write up my notes on Kaitlyn Schiess’ The Liturgy of Politics. Sherri got up closer to 9.We had our breakfast, which was an improvement over the Oxnard fare-they both are Quality Inn. Eggs looked better and I got waffles.

We left the hotel at 10. We were still undecided about our first stop. I think Sherri is concerned that we will not be able to get everything we want to do into our day and so she is willing to drop Solvang. I showed Sherri what the time schedule looks like, so she is OK with Solvang

 

I think if we leave by noon, we should be good. We wandered down Copenhagen Drive. When Sherri pops into a store, I find a bench, preferably in the sun, and read for a bit. We do this routine, several times. Sherri gets a couple of things and a Danish. She only has spent an hour. We leave Solvang shortly after 11.

Eucalyptus Trees where Monarchs reside

Now we go up 101 towards Pismo Beach. Will we be walking down the sands of the beach? No! Sherri wants me to visit the outlet center there, particularly the Nike store. A couple of weeks ago she washed my shoes and I had a limited selection of alternates. I am also a bit hard to fit. Not only a big shoe size, it needs to be wide in the toe box and somewhat normal to narrow heel. This Nike store only had one model in wide and it did not fit me at all.

But Sherri noticed that there is a Sketchers store close by and that is where she took next. One of their shoes fit me pretty well, so Sherri goes ahead and buys it. We are not sure if this is really a long term solution to my feet. At least we will give it a try.

One place which was close by is the Pismo Beach Monarch Grove. We found a parking place. Then have lunch in the car before going in. The Monarch season is from November to February. We are at the tail end of the season. But we can hope we see some flocks of Monarchs. While we do see some flying high in the eucalyptus trees. We were hoping for a Butterfly Bathing to cleanse our souls, but at least we got a Monarch Sponge Bath. We will need to make a note to come earlier.

Coastline at Montana de Oro

We have been doing pretty good with gas, but there is a limit of how far this tank of gas will go. Tomorrow, we are going into a more desolate place where a gas station is not very frequent. So we stopped at Costco, of course, in San Luis Obispo. That should get us home

Then it is off to Montana de Oro. We are thinking of doing something easy, like the Bluff’s Trail. We feel fortunate-there is a parking space right at the start of the trail. We put out our Senior Pass for State Pass and started walking about 3:10. We stop at the site where there was a chute that the original ranchers used to load goods with. There is still a roped off hole, a bit overgrown there.

We enjoy our walk and greeting people. One of these stopped and asked Sherri if his dog is OK on the trail? It took a few seconds for her to recognize her chiropractor. It may have been the sunglasses or just meeting someone unexpectedly. The kids usually say it is me who knows everybody-I guess it is Sherri’s turn to know people. Sherri made an appointment with him when we got back to Fresno.

We started walking again at a comfortable pace for us. After a while, I heard footsteps behind us, not going slower than us and not passing us. This went on for about ¾ off a mile when someone else passed us. Eventually someone else passed us, then our stalker also passed us. I made a comment that she turned and smiled and just said she enjoyed walking behind us.

The Bluffs Trail has a final half of a mile leg which returns to the road. We decided to forego this leg and just return. We met a couple of men from Illinois. We talked with them for a while. They house sit for a friend in Sebastopol when the friend is away. They get a month or more to wander around Northern California.

We start back and just enjoy our walk. The ocean waves are a good reminder of both how some things seem to be endless and that all things wear down with time. We got back to the car about 5.

I had suggested several places to eat earlier, but Sylvester’s resonated with us, plus it is close by. We are the only ones at Sylvester's -I wonder what is wrong here as it is almost always busy. I ordered a Baby Desperado Burger. Sherri questions the Baby part and then decides that her husband is wise. She orders a Baby California Burger. That and some fries are enough to satisfy us.

It is getting dark now, so we head off to Atascadero. I had booked a room at Home2Suite last night. When we entered the room, we realized this is the best room of the three nights we have had on this trip.. I think we will be comfortable. The trip may be wearing on me as I feel like I just need to rest up as I am starting to get tired. Even with being tired, I make it to my usual bed time of 10.

Extra Photo's

Montana de Oro Coast

Montana de Oro Coast

There is a seagull in this picture-the same on as below

Animals

Seagull on Rock

Sparrow

 
Flowers and Plants

 

 

Morning Glory

California Golden Poppy

 

 

 

February 21, 2026 - Coast

 

Title: February 21, 2026 - Along the Coast

Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals 

Hike Info:

Type: Car

 From  Google Maps:

Mileage: 88 miles

Drive Time:  1:40

Description:

We had an assortment of places which we thought about going to. Did we go to any of them?:

• Mission Buenaventura
• Casa de Herra Gardens
• Go on a hike
• Chumash State Park caves
• Visit some falls

The list above is what we thought we would be doing today, or at least hoping we would do. Did we? Well, we did get a visit to a waterfall at the tail end of today. But we had a good day together. It is like I tell Sherri, you plan so that you can do something else. Here was our day.

I got up at 7:15-Sherri got up within a few minutes. We took a shower and then went down to have breakfast. Sherri thought the breakfast selection was about average. The line for the waffle machine was never ending, so I had a bowl of Frosted Flakes-that was a mistake. Then I had some granola. The mistake was that my blood sugars soared. We then spent an hour and a half trying to figure out where to stay tonight and what to do today.

 

 

Fortunately our packing is not very extensive, so we are able to take stuff down in one load. We got out by 10:45. Our first stop was to be Mission Buenaventura. But the local state assemblyman was having a rally and we could not find any parking. Sherri had called up Casa del Herrero to see if we could get in on our Atlanta Botanical Gardens membership we got last March. The answer is a quasi-yes. We can use it to gain access, but all of their slots to allow admittance are filled up. So we got put on a waiting list. We will know by 1:30 if we can get in.

I suggested we visit the Ventura Botanical Gardens and see what that is like. The Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens is closed for replanting. That sounds like a good idea. So up we go. The Ventura Gardens is set on a steep hillside. It is laid out with different areas of the world: Chile, California, South Africa, and Australia. While the hillside is steep, the paths which are laid out cut across the hillside, so the incline is never terrible. But you still do climb.

We spent most of the time in the Chile area, mostly because it is the first one we came to. There are all kinds of vibrant flower colors which we don’t see out here in California in this section. It took us about an hour to go through this section. At the top of it is an overlook put up by the Rotary. There we rested for a few minutes.

 

 

There is a road, Summit Drive, which divides the upper and lower parts of the gardens. When we cross the road, we continue our wander through the California Ramble. A lot of these plants are ones we are familiar with, or at least some of their cousins. The trail is similar to the Chile section in that it gradually ascends. When we get close to the top, we cross over into the South African section. There is more color here. At one point we reach a plateau which allows us to see south to Oxnard and west to Ventura. A grand sight, it is.

 

Santa Barbara Courthouse

We are getting pretty tired, so we start wandering back down to the entrance. It still takes us about 45 minutes to make the descent. We make it back to the car after 1:30-with no call from Casa del Herrero. Doing the Ventura Gardens was a good call. We did a shady spot and had our lunch in Ventura before heading out.

We decided that our next stop would be to walk around Santa Barbara. I had pulled some places off of GPSMyCity and will use that as a basis. We park in a public parking area which gives us 75 minutes of free parking. We had seen the Santa Barbara Courthouse coming in and went back to see it. It is worth gawking at. Right across from the Courthouse is the library. We decided that since we are there, we might as well see if we can get a card. Bingo! Plus we had a pleasant conversation with the librarian. That makes our eighth card, if you include our expired Library of Congress card.

Going to the library did disrupt our touring plans as the librarian told us that a local ice cream shop is giving a free scoop of ice cream to all Santa Barbara library card holders. This is a good day. We find Rori's and they give us each a gigantic scoop. That will send my blood sugar skyward. But it was really good tasting-we will be putting Rori’s on our tour de ice cream route.

 

 

Rori's Ice Cream

Then it is back to the car. During our time at the Ventura Gardens, I got reservations at another Quality Inn in Buellton. So we head in that direction.While this was a pretty satisfactory day, there was an element missing. We had not done a waterfall hike. I think we were too tired to do a real hike, plus it is a bit late. When we went to Solvang before, we had done a mile hike to Nojoqui Falls. It is only a ten minute drive off of 101, so this would check several boxes.

Nojoqui Falls

On the way to the Falls, there were a couple women on horseback on the road. Interesting what you find out here. We slowly went around them so as not to run over their dog or spook the horses. Then we came to the County Park and did our walk. We realized what made this a difficult walk for Sherri’s cousins awhile back. While it is short and not very much uphill, the trail surface is uneven and there is a constant grind uphill. Still we make it. The Falls are fuller than we have ever seen. Well worth the trip up.

Then it is back to the car and on to Buellton. We check into the hotel after 6. I am still not too hungry, but Sherri wants to eat. We decided on fast food. There is a Habit Burger just a little ways away, so off we go. Sherri gets her Sante Fe while I have a kid’s charburger. That is enough for me. We get back to the hotel room and I am content just to type on the tablet for the rest of the evening.

 

 

Background

The Atlanta Botanic Gardens is a member of the American Horticultural Society. There is reciprocating admittance for each member garden. In this area, the San Luis Obispo, Casa del Herrero, Santa Barbara Gardens and the Ventura Gardens are all members.

Trip Advisor Review:

• Quality Inn-Camarillo. After a good drive, we were looking for someplace to spend the night and get a good night’s sleep. This hotel is right off of the highway and our concern was how noisy would it be? It was not-we did not hear any traffic. The bed was comfortable and the room was clean. The check-in woman was friendly and helpful. The only thing which we would improve was breakfast. The servings were bland and it could really have used a second waffle maker.
• Ventura Botanical Gardens. We entered on an AHS reciprocal pass. Frankly, we were not expecting much after all it is Winter time. These Gardens were very pleasantly surprised. We walked three of the gardens: Chile, California Ramble and South America, spending a total of four hours. Each area was pleasant and colorful for those of us who are not botanically inclined. The Gardens are on a steep hillside. The trails through the gardens have only a gentle slope as they weave their way through each garden. If we are in the area, we would definitely go again.

Extra Photo's

 

 

 

 

 

Animals