We woke up early to strike our site, and to call to make arrangements for the night. We had two nights with no pre-arrangements, as I couldn't find anything in the area that took reservations. They were only first come first serve. I was counting on staying in Lompoc at Jalama Beach. I had called earlier, and he said that I should call in the morning to check availability, and we should be fine. I called at 7:45 and the line was busy for 15 minutes. When I finally got through, he told me he had 17 people on a waitlist in his parking lot who had showed up in the morning to wait. He didn't think he even had enough sites for them, so he referred me to Lake Cachuma. This turned out to be a great suggestion!
We got to drive through the mountains which were beautiful, and into the valleys. Lake Cachuma is a very large lake, and we were very disappointed to discover that you could not so much as dip a toe in it, as it is Santa Barbara's supply of drinking water. Motor boats and fishing were permitted...
We set up our camp, and made our way down the mountains the other way through Solvang, a town of windmills and German-style timber buildings. It looked like a movie set. Very Quaint.
We made our way down and found Gaviota State Park. You can camp here too if you reserve in advance. There is very little privacy though. We avoided the $10 park fee by parking up the hill. The hiking trail was outside of the park entrance here. We began our trek up the mountain. I heard that there were hot springs up at the top. We didn't find any, mind you we stopped early because we wanted to go to the beach. The climb is through a lot of low and high brush and is very steep at times. I found it tricky in running shoes and purchased hiking shoes for the remainder of the trip. Also, I recommend wearing longer pants or capris, as some of the brush was quite sharp, and I had several scrapes along my thighs. The views were amazing.
We headed back down, as carefully as possible. There is nothing to hold onto and the decline was steep. Lots of slipping!
We got back down to the road, and opted to hop the train track and shimmy down the cliff to get to the beach. We didn't feel we should pay $10 for 2 hours. We saw the locals doing this so we followed suit. A little tricky, but worth it. The beach at Gaviota is beautiful, and because it is in more of a remote area there were very few people here. The waves were big and fun to play in, and people were fishing off the pier.
After a few hours, we made our way back to Lake Cachuma. We needed to stop for groceries. We had a hard time figuring our what grocery stores were. We learned that out west, Vons, Trader Joes, Albertson's and Safeways were all grocery stores. CVS and Walgreens are pharmacies. We found an Albertsons outside of Solvang, and picked up the ingredients for a delicious grilled chicken, corn and potatoes dinner, cooked over the fire. Yum!
I had a shower when we got back from the beach. It was 50 cents for a very generous three minutes. Very refreshing. After dinner we sat back and watched the sun set over the lake.
We had a resident skunk that visited us several times in the evening, and needed some coaxing to leave, and a family of 5 raccoons meandering through the sites that we stumbled across on a washroom visit. Most Americans camp by RV. There were very few people just tenting it, and therefore, fewer people understanding why/how you clean up your site after a meal. On sites though, these were the only animals we saw. I don't think they have bear problems in the south!
Another night of stars filling up the sky, and plenty of marshmallows to go around!
We got to drive through the mountains which were beautiful, and into the valleys. Lake Cachuma is a very large lake, and we were very disappointed to discover that you could not so much as dip a toe in it, as it is Santa Barbara's supply of drinking water. Motor boats and fishing were permitted...
We set up our camp, and made our way down the mountains the other way through Solvang, a town of windmills and German-style timber buildings. It looked like a movie set. Very Quaint.
We made our way down and found Gaviota State Park. You can camp here too if you reserve in advance. There is very little privacy though. We avoided the $10 park fee by parking up the hill. The hiking trail was outside of the park entrance here. We began our trek up the mountain. I heard that there were hot springs up at the top. We didn't find any, mind you we stopped early because we wanted to go to the beach. The climb is through a lot of low and high brush and is very steep at times. I found it tricky in running shoes and purchased hiking shoes for the remainder of the trip. Also, I recommend wearing longer pants or capris, as some of the brush was quite sharp, and I had several scrapes along my thighs. The views were amazing. | ||
| A quarter of the way up |
 | |
| Closer to halfway... |
 |
| From a very high peak, but not the highest. |
We headed back down, as carefully as possible. There is nothing to hold onto and the decline was steep. Lots of slipping!
We got back down to the road, and opted to hop the train track and shimmy down the cliff to get to the beach. We didn't feel we should pay $10 for 2 hours. We saw the locals doing this so we followed suit. A little tricky, but worth it. The beach at Gaviota is beautiful, and because it is in more of a remote area there were very few people here. The waves were big and fun to play in, and people were fishing off the pier.
I had a shower when we got back from the beach. It was 50 cents for a very generous three minutes. Very refreshing. After dinner we sat back and watched the sun set over the lake.
We had a resident skunk that visited us several times in the evening, and needed some coaxing to leave, and a family of 5 raccoons meandering through the sites that we stumbled across on a washroom visit. Most Americans camp by RV. There were very few people just tenting it, and therefore, fewer people understanding why/how you clean up your site after a meal. On sites though, these were the only animals we saw. I don't think they have bear problems in the south!
Another night of stars filling up the sky, and plenty of marshmallows to go around!
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