Coreopsis Hill

 

The sand was pristine... not a foot print in sight. It rained last night which packed the sand and made walking easy.

 

The wind blows the grains of sand in wonderful and mysterious ways.

 

The drops are sharp and unexpected.

 

It was threatening to rain but it never happened.

 

Avila Bay, Oso Flaco Lake and Coreopsis.

 

The Coreopsis are like giant bouquets popping up in the sand.

 

I'm so glad I didn't let the chance of a few rain drops change my plans.

The Hike

The San Luis Obispo area is the site of nine lava plugs that were made by volcanoes long, long ago.  They start with Morro Rock on the coast and end east of down town San Luis Obispo. The largest of these peaks is Bishop Peak which sits overlooking the Calpoly campus. It is a favorite climb of the students and rock climbers. We have wanted to take this hike for some time and decided Sunday was the day. It was a beautiful sunny day. Maybe too sunny!

The beginning of the trail was shady and wooded. The coolness was deceiving.

The trail wandered through large boulders and oaks. It was once the site of a rock quarry and supplied the granite stones used to build the beautiful Presbyterian Church downtown. Well, this was the easy part... soon the real hike was to begin.

Right about here... the trail got seriously steep and hot. The temperature was 85 degrees and we soon figured out we had picked the wrong day. So this was as far as we got on Sunday. We will try again on an overcast day!