 |
| Sunrise |
Description:
It turned out that it was a
cold night last night. There is a natural downhill slope to the tent
and when I wiggled close to the bottom side of the tent, my feet got
cold. So I went back up to the top. Then repeated this throughout
the night. I should have gotten up when Sherri went to the bathroom.
When I got up at 7:30, I really needed to go.
To get myself warmed up, I did
a short ¾ mile walk up the Oats
Peak
trail to the Valencia
Peak |
View from Environmental Camp #3
|
trail and then down to the road. I was warmer after that. When I got
back, Sherri was just getting up. So I got set up for
breakfast-french toast. By this time it is 9:30. While eating
breakfast, I noticed that my hand is turning a bright pink.
Apparently an insect bit me. It is not bothersome, just a bit
concerning.
Steven said he was leaving
about 10. We see a school group going up towards Oats Peak. Turns out
that they are with the Kern County Schools. We do not get our hike
started until 11:15.
Some of the delay in getting
started was that Sherri’s pack was soaking wet. When she tried to
figure out why, she did not have a resolution. So her pack gets left
behind. A bit later as we are walking along, I start to feel
something hit on my back. While I wait for Sherri at a junction, I
look and see why. The lid on my bladder was loose. When I tighten it
up. The water stops spilling out of the bladder, but there is enough
water in the pack that I feel it for awhile
 |
Surf from Bluffs Trail
|
We started off retracing my
steps from this morning. The first part of our trek is going up the
Oats Peak Trail for a short way until we branch off onto the Valencia
Peak Trail. This shortly brings us to the “real” Valencia Peak
Trail. Now we have a choice to make. Sherri thinks she is up to the
climb, but I reflect on that this is a thousand foot plus climb and
can we do that by the time Steven comes?
 |
Grotto Rock
|
So we take the other way which
would lead us down to the road. But we turn off at the junction with
the Rattlesnake
Flats
Trail. This trail roughly parallels the road to the east side of it.
Also because it is higher, we get some views of the coast. Sherri
hears a fog horn, but does not see where it is coming from. I suspect
it is someplace on Point
Buchon.
We came to a road to an
environmental camp. These camps are campsites where people need to
walk in a short ways, carrying all of their stuff, including water.
In the case of the campsite we came to, #3, it is a pretty steep
uphill. I am glad we do not need to carry our camping equipment up
that hill.
 |
Sure footed hawk
|
But after examining the topo
map, I concluded that is where the Rattlesnake Flat trail goes, so up
we went. A little beyond the campsite is the trail junction and we
continue on our way. The trail continues above for a little ways,
until it dips into a ravine and comes to the Deer Flats Trail
Junction. Sherri is willing to go on to where our trail picks up the
Bluffs Trail, but we are starting to move a bit slow. So we just
follow the Deer Flats Trail down to the Bluffs.
Once we get to the Bluffs, it
is almost 1 and I said that I need to take a break. So Sherri says
lets eat lunch. The place where we stop gives a good view of Grotto
Rock and
a shelf which periodically gets a wave which gives it a wash. It is a
good place to stop.
After I get my rest stop, we
head north along the Bluffs Trail. There are a lot more people than
the one person we met on the Rattlesnake Flat Trail. It is an
accessibility trail, gently graded and very scenic. The ocean in
these parts must be close to high tide, so we get to enjoy lots of
waves with their white caps.
Sherri spots some sort of
raptor on a trail sign and we pause to take pictures of it. Then
onward we go. We meet up with more of the Kern County kids, which are
a good combination of exuberance and courtesy.
 |
on rock
|
A short time later we came to
our campsite. Korra and Steven are already there and Steven is
putting the finishing touches on his portable hammock stand. The
discussion is now what to do this afternoon? Sherri raises up the
possibility of climbing Bishop Peak. I shot that down as during the
last hour we have been traveling slowly on level ground. Also I need
to rest for half an hour before we do anything. I fell asleep while
Sherri and Steven discussed this.
When I woke up, it was because
of a noise. One of the stakes holding Steven’s hammock had come
out, collapsing the hammock. While he had the stake deep in the
ground, the ground, as we discovered last night, is very uneven. Part
of that is because some of the ground is solid and other parts are
pretty loose. Evidently below the surface, the stake was in loose
ground. Nobody was hurt.
The half an hour which it took
to break down the hammock and mount his old, stable one decided what
we were going to do. After everything was settled, Steven drove us to
Avila
Beach
where there is a dog friendly beach. There, Korra can run around
without a leash to her heart's content, and she does. It is nice
there for about 30-45 minutes until the sun goes down and a chill
enters the air. |
Moon about to rise
|
When we leave, we go to one of
the highlights of the trip-Sylvester's.
When we come to this area, we try to make it here. The hamburgers are
really good. I have the Desperado; Sherri has a California burger and
Steven a Hanna-sort of a Hawaiian style burger. I do not hear any
complaints and I for one is very filled and satisfied. Hint: The
basic burger is a third of a pound and moves on up from there.
By this time, it is dark when
we get to camp. We do a few things to get set up for the time when we
eventually go to bed. We then reenter the car. I was the last because
I tried to get a shot of the three planets lined up before the moon
rose And then looking over, I saw Orion and his belt. At the lower
end of the constellation, there looks like a dirty smudge-not on my
glasses, but under the constellation. When I consulted my star app,
it says this is the Orion Nebula. It is good seeing that.
By the way, the insect bite I
talked about earlier did not get any worse.
Then into the car I go to do
some reading and writing. It is much warmer tonight in the car with
four bodies-I will take it. By about 9:30, I was ready for bed. I did
go on a short walk around the campground loop before turning in.
Sherri finished up her movie she had downloaded and came to bed about
the time I was nodding off
