In a residential neighborhood, just south of downtown San Luis Obispo, is the trailhead for South Hills Open Space. We had stopped by this curbside trailhead once before a few months earlier, deciding that the trail didn’t look too appealing at the time. After our brief hike up Black Hill in Morro Bay, we were still eager to do some more walking, and South Hills came to mind as a good follow-up. It took a little exploration to find the…
Just east of the town of Morro Bay sits Black Hill, one of the Nine Sisters that stretch from Morro Rock in the west to Islay Hill east of San Luis Obispo. We had heard that the hike to the top was scenic but very short – it could be lengthened to about a mile each way by starting from a trailhead on the hill’s southwest slope. However, we must have driven right past it, because we quickly found ourselves…
Jane’s Aunt Bev met us for an easy walk along the bluffs north of Cayucos. Chris was hoping to duplicate the hike we did last November but mistook the trailhead and wound up parking about two miles short of where he intended. We ended up walking south from Hwy 1 at San Geronimo Road to the ocean, then west out to and past Cayucos Point, returning to the highway and following it east to the car. In contrast to our first visit…
Jane was shopping when Chris did Islay Hill alone the previous November, so we did this easy but scenic little hike together on a beautiful January day. The colors of farmland in Edna Valley to the east weren’t quite as vibrant as they had been in the fall, but the air was crystal clear. It had rained a little the day before, and some of the steeper sections at the start were a little slippery, but we got through that…
A beautiful, cloudless day in Montana de Oro State Park, and our destination was 1,373′ Oats Peak. We hiked up the south side of the Islay Creek canyon to a saddle just east of Valencia Peak, thinking the next hill was Oats Peak. To our surprise, Oats was three small summits and another 3/4 mile away further east – the trail followed the undulating contours of the ridgeline, requiring a sequence of elevation gains and losses, but we got there eventually without…
While Jane took a rest day and shopped with her Aunt Bev in SLO, Chris did a solo walk up Islay Hill, the easternmost of the Nine (or Seven, depending on your source) Morros that lie in and around San Luis Obispo. The western and southern slopes were sunny and warm, while the shaded north slope was quite cool and damp. Once at the summit, the views east across Edna Valley were particularly nice, with even a glimpse of snow-capped Mt….
Hikefest Day 6. Cerro San Luis overlooks downtown SLO, notable for the large “M” prominent on its northeast face that stands for Mission High School just across the 101 freeway. The trail ascends steeply at first up a slope that appears to be more gentle, then tapers into a more gradual climb once the route reaches a fire road that leads to the summit. The peak was quite the popular destination as we had plenty of company on the trail up, mostly hikers…
Hikefest Day 5. We got a very late start to the day and didn’t leave Pismo until after 2pm. We wanted something easy since we were more than a little sore and didn’t think we had time for any sort of peak-bound hike, so we headed up Hwy 1 to the Estero Bluffs just north of Cayucos. Starting from a random turnout near a tall hill along the road, we walked along meandering trails westward to a pristine beach where the…
Hikefest Day 4. We decided to hit the literal high point of the week by hiking Cerro Alto, a summit near the end of West Cuesta Ridge that overlooks Morro Bay. We had read about the outstanding views from the top and how one could see all the way from Big Sur in the north to Point Sal in the south, but even the best descriptions could not compare with being there for real. The fantastic scenery came at a…
Hikefest Day 3. The weather having been foggy and cloudy on our first trip here in September, we decided to take another shot at Valencia Peak since it was so sunny and warm. We started from the same trailhead and took the most direct route as before. As we climbed higher, clouds began forming below us, so the ascent developed into a literal race with the clouds to the summit. The clouds won, but not by much – we still got some good views….