Monarch Butterflies, Shell Beach, Avila Beach, Montana de Oro

We are meandering up the coast on Route 1.  We stopped at another section of Pismo Beach and watched a guy haul a huge fifth wheel through the deep sand towards the dry camping area.  Jack wanted to try driving on the same beach, but I was too afraid of getting stuck - we don't have four-wheel drive like the trucks and cars we saw.

We drove a few miles north and stopped at the Monarch Grove.  These are western Monarch butterflies that winter over here - not the ones that go to Mexico.  They cannot fly under 55 degrees and they will cluster together hanging on to the limbs of these Eucalyptus trees and survive the mild winters here.  When the temps climb a bit like they did here, they will fly around and look for mates.

A surprising side story we learned from the volunteer butterfly expert, the Eucalyptus trees were planted here en masse because the railroad companies thought they could use them for railroad ties as California had been denuded of trees by the 49ers.  They imported them from Australia and the trees twist slightly as they grow quickly, but no one expected that here in the northern hemisphere, they twisted in a way that makes them susceptible to fracturing when a railroad spike was hammered in - so California has lots of Eucalyptus trees whose timber is useless, but they did need the windbreaks.

Anyway, back to the beaches.  We continued north through small resort towns of Shell Beach and Avila Beach (mostly a harbor), enjoying a few stops to have lunch overlooking the ocean and enjoying the views.

Avila Beach

Campgrounds with electric are hard to find along the coast, and the few we could find were unreasonably expensive.  We found a state park campground, El Chorro, just a few miles north of San Luis Obispo with nice spots with trees and green grass and nice and quiet - no trains!  In the morning, I walked some trails they had through a small botanical garden.  We arranged to stay here a couple more nights as a home base to explore the area.

Shell Beach

Then we drove five miles north to another state park on the coast - Montana de Oro.  We spent the afternoon stopping at gorgeous viewpoints, walking the beach, and hiking the bluff trail overlooking the bay.  We are on the "back" side of Morro Bay and we could see the famous Morro Bay rock in the distance.  We will head to Morro Bay in a couple of days.

The famous Morro Bay Rock in the distance.  Sand dunes in foreground part of Montana de Oro

More photos.

We drove through this dying Eucalyptus forest in the Park on our way to the beach.