Our last full day in Pismo before heading home for Thanksgiving got a late start. We had talked about doing Cerro Alto for the third time, plus an extension of that hike eastward to Tassajera Peak, but that 10+-mile effort would require a fair amount of elevation gain and loss that we were a little too lazy to accept. We hemmed and hawed, eventually deciding to head up the coast to the Cambria area and hike up San Simeon Creek – however, the day was late enough already that we thought we might run out of light if we drove that far north, so we chose to visit instead Estero Bluffs State Park, just west of Cayucos, and the site of two previous hikes of ours. In each of our prior visits, we hiked different sections of the trails along the bluffs. This time, in our quest for easy but meaningful distance, we thought we’d park near the east end of the reserve, hike west to the park’s western boundary at Villa Creek, then return – if time allowed, we could explore the extreme eastern end of the property. The sky held a fair amount of high clouds overhead, enough to dim the sunlight and keep the temperature coolish, but never enough to say it was really overcast. After parking at the lot near San Geronimo Road, we headed west along familiar ground, observing after the first half-mile that the grasslands had burned since our last hike here about 18 months ago, and probably quite recently. While the blackened grass gave the inland views a desolate feel, it did nothing to compromise the beauty of the coastline. The ocean was very calm, and the various coves we passed showed barely a ripple on the water. We walked quickly, stopping at Point 2 for some photos before continuing westward. We passed the low hill we had climbed two years ago on our first hike here, and it appeared as though the obscure little shrine on top had survived the fire. We came upon some biologists studying a large seabird colony on some rocks offshore, and we eventually reached the beautiful crescent-shaped beach near the mouth of Villa Creek – others had been here ahead of us today, as ours were not the only footprints in the sand like last time. While we had seen water in San Geronimo Creek near our trailhead, the water in Villa Creek seemed quite low, the lagoon being more of a puddle more than 100 yards inland from the ocean. We didn’t spend much time here at the west end of the park but headed back east, passing again into the burned area. Several flights of pelicans came swooping by in formation, nearly skimming the surface of the ocean at high speed. As we approached our parking area, we decided we had enough daylight left to walk to the park’s eastern end, and we encountered a lone egret on the coastal plain not long afterward. As Chris began to take his picture from about 30 yards away, he suddenly took flight, zooming out to sea directly over Jane’s head. We continued walking east to the edge of the park at some houses, then turned about and walked back to the bluff nearest our car. With the sun soon to set, we decided to hang around and watch it, despite the gnats that began to swarm around us as soon as the light began to fail. The sunset was wonderful, although Chris got impatient with the gnats, and we headed back to the car after we thought the colors had reached their zenith. What a mistake – as we arrived at the parking area, the clouds overhead began to light up, and within minutes they were aglow with oranges and purples. We got some good pictures, but they would have been truly awesome had they been taken from the bluff instead of the parking lot. Oh well. The pictures from this walk tell the story much better than words – another gorgeous day on the Central Coast, and an end-to-end exploration of Estero Bluffs State Park.