July 17, 2013
Per our usual of not making reservations, we were out of luck securing a camping spot at the main Morro Bay State Park. So we settled for the parking lot at Morro Strand State Beach. Truth be told I wouldn't exactly recommend either campground at $35/night, but the locations work well for what we like to do down there. Perhaps it's mostly nostalgia for why I keep going back. I was a little surprised to find out Morro Strand SB is still open for business considering it has been on the chopping block twice since 2009. How did this get resolved? Did Save Our State Parks actually save it? Does anyone know how this played out? Darn news these days rarely offer follow-up reports.
The nicest thing about staying at the strand is, well, the beach... even though it can get extremely windy in the afternoons. I know, I know, I live along Monterey Bay with plenty of perfectly fine beaches here in town, but there's something about this beach adjacent to Morro Bay that hits home for me. It's my favorite central CA coast beach for beachcombing. It's long and flat and rarely stinky. There are always plenty of birds, like the Heermann's gulls, western gulls, and marbled godwit shown here. There are also many more sand dollars, crabs, and clams than I can find at home. It's a lovely spot to watch the sun set.
4 comments:
Wow - $35. My husband just told me last week that the state is upping the campground fees so as to raise more revenue, but at the same time they are wondering why the campgrounds (excepting the ones you wanted, I guess) aren't as full as usual. When I was a child Morro Bay and Pismo Beach were the places that we Central Valley families would go to camp or just to escape the summer heat.
Hey, Gretchen. The strand used to be $10 cheaper than the main, because there are no showers there. The main has been $35 for several years, so I wonder if there's another fee hike coming soon. I'm not sure which parks "they" are talking about, but all of the State Park camping from Pismo to Morro Bay to San Simeon, to Big Sur were at or almost at full capacity during the middle of the week. I, too, grew up in the Valley (Lemoore/Hanford), and going to the coast was a summer tradition.
Now that doesn't look like scarf weather! Though I notice, as I type, that your weather widget indicates you have fog.
Looks a great place to just be.
Hey, Graeme. The cooler temps came over the weekend, and that fog can chill you to the bone when the coastal breeze blows. I'll still take it over the extreme heat any day. Cheers!
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