May 4
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Morocco
seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from Kuwait
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from Taiwan
seen from China
seen from Australia
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
Next to the mortar range, Hunter Liggett Military Res, California. Nikkormat, 24mm. Kodak TRI-X. NIK
Mortar fire, US Marines, Fort Hunter Liggett, CA. Nikon n90s, 24mm. Fujichrome Astia 100. NIK
make flowers, not war (by flora-file)
San Simeon, California to Lucia, California (Big Sur)
May 1. Miles driven: 5427
We knew from the previous day that Highway 1, the coastal road, to the north of us was closed in several places due to some landslides. Our options were: drive on a freeway north all the way to Monterey, bypassing all of the Big Sur area, or, drive through an Army base and along a treacherous, incredibly windy mountain road to get back to the coast as soon as we could. We chose the latter, and had the pleasure of driving through Fort Hunter Liggett, past shot-up cars and huts, and on the wonderful Nacimiento-Ferguson Rd. It is 24 miles, well paved and maintained but incredibly hilly and windy. The vast majority of the road is spend looking out the side window to see the road ahead, rather than through the front windshield. And that is not in any way an exaggeration; it was incredible and fun to drive on.
We finally made it to a view of the ocean that was sublime. From a view on this road, several hundred feet above the ocean, it was incredible. And to boot, right upon getting on Highway 1 again, there was a spectacular campground, the Kirk Creek Campground ran by the National Forest. In the middle of nowhere, with an amazing view of the Big Sur mountains and ocean. It was simply unbelievable. We hadn't planned on camping that night, but immediately bought our $11 campsite.
We picked a site with a wonderful view, and immediately headed down to the rocky shore. Walking through a rainforest to get there, we found a wonderful series of huge rocks jutting out into the ocean, wonderful to climb all over. I had a blast climbing up to the top of one of the rocks; it was basically a playground for adults. We took tons of pictures here, before heading up to the camp to make dinner, playing bananagrams in our tent, and falling asleep to the sounds of harbor seals (or sea lions?) yelping in the ocean below. Cari enjoyed feeding the squirrels by hand, which she was specifically warned not to do by a sign at the campground's entrance, due to the threat of ebola. Incredible.
Again, this was one of the most wonderful nights on the trip and I hope to come back here many times.