and it was a bit longer this time

1/9/2011 Los Osos to the Morro Bay sandspit

The day was bright and clear, but the chill of the wind kept us wrapped up. In the previous post we visited the long sand spit that encloses Morro Bay. This time, with more time and no threat of rain we could explore further into the dunes and along the beach. The cold wind was our constant companion except when we hid behind a dune for a lunch break.

More plovers were out for the day dashing around at the edge of the surf joined by a few godwits and curlews stabbing at the wet sand. Large parts of the inland dunes are roped off to reduce human traffic in the snowy plovers' nesting areas. If you go I hope you'll heed the signs asking people to keep out of these areas. In addition, it's worth noting at the trail head the warning signs posted about the possibility of stumbling onto unexploded munitions from the 1940s. For a few years around the second world war the sand spit area was used for military training exercises. Left over mortar rounds and small rockets could be buried in the sand, so beware of digging around any rusted metal objects you stumble on.

Outside the stretches closed to make room for plovers' eggs the dunes offer huge open areas of lunar emptiness punctuated by tall hummocks topped by scraggly dune plants.

The slopes of sand were too much for the boy a-go-go to pass up and he made good use of his toboggan. The dunes drift in the wind and make the kind of ripples one expects in a desert scene, but many patches of sand were remarkably firm. I suppose this is due to the constant damp of ocean dew. Wet sticky sand was everywhere just an inch below the surface.

Scattered in the lumps of blowing sand we spotted lots of things slowly bleaching in the sun. We didn't see and munitions but there were plenty of bleached bones of small birds and other critters. We carried back to the parking area two bags full of plastic trash and there are plenty of scattered bits of broken bottles slowly being softened into sea glass. There were few other people out on the spit with us but the place a certainly has seen lots of human activity.

There are shanties built of driftwood and other debris here and there among the dunes, and the bits of charred firewood make it clear that people have camp outs now and then. Officially this is a no camping area but I can see why it's so irresistible. we didn't make the trek all the way to the mouth of the bay so there may be another update to this post sometime. It's five miles one way from the parking area to the end. Someday we'll make it a whole day and an even longer walk.

long walk will be longer next time

12/22 Los Osos to the Moro Bay sandspit

The rain has been giving us some cabin fever so every time there is a break we run out for a short bit of outside time. The rain letup on the afternoon of the 22nd and a walk on the sandspit outside Morro Bay sounded like a good idea. The sandspit offers a long beach walk with usually few people, and the farther you walk the fewer still.

Los Osos Valley Road becomes Pecho Valley Road in the town of Los Osos and will take you into Montaña de Oro State Park. Past the park entrance .8 miles turn right on Sandspit Road and there is a small parking area and a well marked trail down through the dunes. Once on the beach you can walk Northish toward Morro Rock all the way to the opening of the bay. It's about 5 miles one way so you can make this a long walk if you are up for it.

We didn't have the energy or the daylight to go the distance that day. The clouds made for an early twilight and we were on our way home by 4:30. It's a marvelous place. You may be lucky enough to see a phalanx of shy Plovers running in the surf and if you dig in the sand you'll turn up some of the biggest sand crabs ever.

Get ready for a long walk and we'll see you there when the weather gives us a long break.

the search for nephrite and jadeite

Moonstone Beach 12/23

A solid week of rain dashed our hopes of seeing the lunar eclipse on the 20th but a break in the heavy rain on the 23rd gave us a chance to get outside. We decided it was time for a visit to Cambria, California and Moonstone Beach. Here are some reviews of the beach and other folks' impressions. Now, if you live in a place that is having cold nasty weather this time of year and are feeling envy just hold on a second. Yes, there are fantastically beautiful days like the one pictured above that come along in winter but you have to take note that those are the only days everyone runs outside to take pictures. The recent wet is nothing compared to freezing rain and snow but don't get the idea that everyday looks so blue. And if you come to visit in the summer, HA! the central coast will likely be socked in with a thick cold fog. These fantastic clear (but chilly with wind) days are often in the middle of winter when the marine layer has been blown away by a storm, and indeed the next day was gray and drizzly again.
So, we took our shot at the pebbles while the getting was good. If you want to go pebble hunting or tide pool gazing be sure to check the tide forecast. Arriving at the beach and finding no beach can be disappointing and tides here can be high enough to completely obscure the pebbly sand and tide pool rocks. I took a look and found that high tide was to occur at 11:40ish in the am and would crest at +6 feet. Gads! good thing I checked. Arriving in the morning we'd be out of luck. Instead we waited until after lunch and had an ever expanding beach to play on, but we'd miss out on the very wide low tide beach that makes for the best pebbling and tide pool gazing.
So, what's all this business about pebbles? you say. Well, Moonstone beach is so called for the jumble of marvelous hard bits of stone tumbled on the shore. The majority are chert, a fine grained sedimentary silica rich stone that is hard enough to resist being pulverised right away in the surf. It comes in an array of colors and makes for dazzling pebble picking. Just a few minutes spent looking near your toes will turn up treasure.
According to the name of the beach there are moonstones to be found. I'm not enough of a geologist or gemologist to know if I have ever seen a moonstone but I hear tell that tossed in with all the chert there are many bits of quartz, nephrite, and rare bits of jadeite. These last two are the source of jade gemstones. Beware, you may be bitten by the jade bug and go ape for the green bits, however I think the melange of colors in the chert (much of which is green too) is more interesting. The pretty green stones are very abundant here but few have the translucent quality that most expect of gemstones. I know that true nephrite is harder than chert and jadeite is harder still so a simple beginners' test if you insist on finding jade is to try scratching the stone with steel. A dull pocket knife will do (it'll be dull soon enough grinding it on hard stones). Bring a loop or other magnifying glass and look at your scratches. If that green stone you've got is cold on your cheek, has some nice sparkly translucence, and when you look close the scratch is actually bits of steel ground off onto the stone then there's a good chance you have some jade. To be absolutely certain you have to get technical and measure the stones specific gravity. Not hard to do if you have a good graduated cylinder and a chemist's balance scale, but all that is beyond me.
I just like lookin' at 'em, and if I end up taking one home it's usually one with wild mottled colors. I'm just not ready to catch the jade bug.

What's the source of all these pretty rocks? Well, the polishing in the surf helps, but all the hard bits of stone come from the Franciscan Assemblage. A geological leftover, predating the San Andreas fault, that is mashed up all along the California central coast. Another favorite pebble spot is Jade Cove in Big Sur. I have not visited this one so I can't vouch for it but I suppose the name is promising. Geologists think that much of this coastal stuff is sedimentary material from the Pacific Ocean floor that was scraped up and packed onto a coast that was at that time riding over a subduction zone. For more on this and other Southern and Central California geology tidbits I highly recommend Geology Underfoot in Southern California.The same day we had another surprise payoff from the week long drenching, a wild mushroom show, but that will have to wait for the next post.

sand in my shoes and moderate sun

The a-go-gos love the beach, but we are not the sort to lay in the sun. We say, "good morning," to the ocean when we find ourselves there at dawn. We'll have breakfast on the cold damp beach and watch tiny crabs to kick the loose sand out their front doors. Early morning or not we don't linger when the sun is too bright. Overcast cool days are the ones to spend watching the waves.

For a Venice Beach ride we'll arrive when early-bird joggers and dedicated surfers are our only company, while the people who spent the night in their cars are still asleep. With so few people out we don't get the usual comments about our screwy lookin' bike helmets. Our ancestors come from the land that the sun forgot and we must work hard to maintain our pallor. We're usually home taking a nap by the time the sun worshipers are out. It's much easier to feel like you're the only one who knows about a place when there is no one else there. Arriving really early or going on cloudy, cool days makes the beach a new discovery. Sometimes the tide has been high enough overnight that yours are the first footprints. Cool days when the other primates don't want to be on the beach is when all the critters come out. Cormorants dive for fish close to shore and the kill deer stroll the lines of froth and sea weed.

Even when we visited friends in Maui for our honeymoon, we couldn't be bothered to sun bathe. I would be up early for a walk in the mornings, or we'd sit on the beach to wait for the sun to take its evening bath.
The sand makes for some fine jump pictures, and an early nap on a sand padded quilt is just that much better when you don't have to worry about sun burn. Sand dribble castles can stretch their ramparts across the beach when your construction efforts are not in the path of of the cell phone zombies and courting couples.