Out of Service

What a long (and at times frustrating) day! 

We got an early start driving up to Cambria to visit the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve. At some point along Highway 1 my Maps app declared I had arrived. Huh? There was no road, no sign, no evidence of a preserve entrance. So I turned around and took the first street I saw. Slight problem: I had no cell service. My phone was Satellite-Only most of the day, but I couldn't connect to a satellite. I couldn't google the preserve's website, or search for anything in Maps. I tried to find any entry into the preserve, but the roads in the neighborhood I was in were not exactly laid out in a grid and I struggled to even keep going towards the sea. After a half hour of being lost in this maze of a residential area in the forest, I finally found my way back to the highway. From there I headed to the little main drag of Cambria where I spied a coffee shop. You know what coffee shops have? WiFi!! 

I got a delicious vanilla latte and pastry and the WiFi password. I was able to catch up on some texts and update my location to my friend who was in charge of knowing where I was in case of emergency. I also got directions to an entrance to the preserve, which I wrote in my Notes app. It seems there is no actual entrance or parking lot. You just park in a neighborhood on either the north or south end of the preserve and look for a sign at the end of a dead-end street. I'd have never found it! 

The map of Fiscalini Ranch Trails 

Once inside the preserve we took the accessible trails first. They were basically a looooong boardwalk for wheelchair accessibility. The boardwalk meandered through some grassland and scrub and along the coastal cliffs below which I spotted some harbor seals.  At one point there was a cat. A black and white domestic shorthair cat to be precise. This cat was following a woman and rubbing up against her legs when she stopped. I thought it absurd that someone was walking her cat through a nature preserve.  Then the woman proceeded and the cat did not. Ahhh, so it isn't her cat.  As we approached the cat came to greet us, too. The cat and Jerry sniffed each other, the cat rubbed against my legs, and I pet it.  I checked the tag on its collar. His address was on the street I parked on and it also said "I play at Fiscalini Ranch."  I hope that cat isn't eating the birds on the preserve. Just sayin'.

The preserve had a lot of unique benches made from downed branches and such. We took pics and sat on several of them. It was unseasonably warm and we did not bring enough water. No worries, we will just catch that trail to the Monterey Pine forest at the other side and then leave. Great plan, except we got kinda lost. 

I grabbed a trail map when we entered, but there were a lot of side trails that were not on the map. There were also bridges that were not on the map. And none of the trails had signs or markers, so I struggled to figure out just which criss-crossed line on the map I was on. The map also gave no indication of elevation gain and we ended up climbing a lot (we are feeling it tonight!) At one point I noticed on the map that if we kept left we would cross a bridge then go straight taking the left fork and arrive at another entrance with bathrooms and a so-called dog park. Once we crossed a bridge I thought it wouldn't be long until we had access to water at that bathroom. WRONG. We walked forever until we came to yet another entrance sign and some cars parked along the highway. I asked someone who just came out ahead of me where to go. The bridge I crossed wasn't even on the map, and the bridge I wanted was across the highway, but we couldn't see where to find it and I wasn't willing to cross the highway and walk for who knows how much longer. Plus, we were far from the car. So we turned back and somehow it was even more uphill. We found the right turn the good samaritan told us to take after much huffing and puffing. Once out of the forest we could see the grasslands trails below us and found our way back to the car where we had more water. 

Once we were rehydrated I found my way back to the highway and we drove up to San Simeon to observe the elephant seal colony. We paid a visit to the Friends of the Elephant Seal headquarters where I bought myself some souvenir socks. Then it was a few more miles north to the viewing area.  We spent quite a while there, mainly watching the females and their nursing pups. Further up the beach we could see the males hauled out and every once in a while a little scuffle would break out, sometimes with one male chasing another into the sea. You can find out more about the fascinating life history of the Northern Elephant Seals here. 

Informational sign at the Elephant Seal Viewing Area

Northern Elephant Seal moms and pups at Piedras Blancas

We continued north on Hwy 1 for about 30 miles to Gorda, just to stickybeak, as Doug would have said. The views were stunning, but the drive was tedious. At Gorda, there is little gas station and convenience store where I used the bathroom and bought some overpriced snacks and a drink, I tried for 10 minutes to connect to satellite, but it wasn't happening. On the way back I saw a bobcat walking on the shoulder! By the time I could grab my phone and open the camera app, the cat dipped under the guardrail and disappeared.  Very cool!

A few miles before Piedras Blancas I spied a bunch of large light colored animals in the distance. I thought they were probably Tule Elk, but I couldn't pull over because there were signs at regular intervals that said NO STOPPING ANY TIME.  So when I had the chance to turn around I did and pulled over just before the first no stopping sign and verified that there were, indeed, about 70 Tule Elk. I took pics but they were very away. 

Those light colored specs out there are Tule Elk

I continued back to Piedra Blancas, and pulled off just after the lighthouse. This parking area was also part of the Elephant Seal Vita Point, but hardly anyone goes to that side, as there are less seals. I saw some pelicans, cormorants, Royal Terns, and Black-bellied Plovers, too. 

Brown Pelicans 

The view to the north from Piedras Blancas

Jerry was super tired, and honestly, so was I.  The hike at Fiscalini would have been enough for one day, but there were pinnipeds to see!  I told Jerry we should be back in about 40 minutes. But that was a lie because just south of Hearst Castle I noticed some cars pulled over on the east side of the road and people looking into the fields beyone the barbed wire fence. THERE WERE ZEBRAS mixed in with the cattle! I was reminded that the zebras were descendants of animals that were part of a zoo that William Randolph Hearst imported at the beginning of the 1900s. They are considered wild and not managed by anyone, including the state wildlife agencies.  They are just living their best life out among the cattle of the central coast. There was even one foal in the herd. I counted about 25 zebras, but was told there were many more around the area. 

Zebras and Cattle on the Central Coast

We finally got back to our hotel after dark.  I was too tired to go look for food, and the restaurant I had in mind closed at 4 anyway. I ordered some delivery and showered then set to work on uploading photos to eBird and catching up from being AFK and Out of Service all day. 

HERE are today's PHOTOS