EISPIRATEN

I spent the entire day with a few friends hiking in Pismo and Shell beaches. A day well spent from sunrise to sunset.

We walked along a few beaches exploring caves, rock climbing and walking along the bluffs. Admiring the ocean views, getting wet sand between my toes, finding cool creatures like sea anemone & sand crabs, and getting soaked by the crashing waves against the rocks were just a few of the delightful experiences that made this entire trip fun and relaxing.

We ended the day watching a gorgeous sunset from a gazebo. The best surprise of all was that I found 4 benchmarks and one of them was right on the beach.

Overall, it was a nice break from training and a great little getaway just before I head out to the Sierras for my Whitney trip.

We went during the week and had most of the beaches all to ourselves which I would highly recommend.

A few more pics

[This post and the pictures are from OldCoot, a longtime forum member. He's having some trouble with the new Tapatalk login process, so I'm posting this reply on his behalf. Oceano Airport is just south of Pismo Beach. --Sean]

"What inspired me to try to log on today is Cecelia's nice Pismo & Shell Beaches post. I used to fly to Oceano Airport (more than 100 times over the years) and hike the beach (sand, and brushy dunes just east of it) for the birds, the monarch butterflies in winter (understand their count is way down these days) and the beach.

Three pix from 2010-2011 trips...

On final to Oceano Airport.



Only place I’ve seen a fogbow.



The second Ivory Gull ever seen in California and the only “chaseable” one--at Pismo Beach 11/4/2010.



Its usual haunts are above the Arctic circle, and it's rare even there. More than 400 birders went to Pismo to see it."

--OldCoot

Thanks Old Coot. There were so many birds hanging out on some of the cool rock formations in the middle of the ocean. But my pics didn't come out too good. The birds there are definitely not afraid of humans. It was quite a scene.

@Girl Hiker re: the plane pic

Did you ride a charter or do you have flying friends? My mom is a pilot and member/low-level officer in this region's chapter of The Ninety-Nines ladies' pilots association. I'll ask her if she's ever made that trip.

Looks like an excellent change of pace. Thanks for sharing!

@Tom Kenney, no didn't ride the charter just walked along the beaches. How cool that your wife is part of the Ninety- Nines.