Sunday, June 27, 2010

California Dreaming


Living at 7,000 feet in the San Bernardino National Forest is great, but after six months of four-plus feet of snow on the ground, early March found me craving some sunny, warm weather; some ocean waves; and some pretty scenery to climb and hike in. After a bit of research into Southern California’s beachfront camping, I found the Leo Carrillo State Beach Campground, just north of Malibu. For just $35 a night I, along with car filled with my favorite people, could camp a half-mile from the beach in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. We craved a snow-free weekend and the sun’s warmth, so we headed off the snow covered mountains of San Bernardino and into the more populated realms of California.

The first day we (myself and two friends, Justin and Matt) explored Echo Cliffs in what turned out to be a rock climbing adventure extraordinaire. The approach was over an hour, filled with stream crossings and scrambling uphill only to slide back downhill, the cliffs always in sight, beckoning us ahead.. Once we found the tops of the climbs we discovered it’s easy to miss the ‘drainage’ used to climb down to the bottom of the cliff (more of a creek than a drainage this time of year), and were continuously thwarted by trees, boulders, waterfalls and loose dirt and rocks in our attempts to get to the base of the cliff. Finally, after bushwhacking down a near-vertical gully, we found what we’d been seeking – bolted rock.

By this point it was almost three in the afternoon, and we didn’t have a whole lot of daylight left. We did, however, find someone with a guidebook and enough knowledge to point us in the direction of some easier routes. Justin was the real climber of our group, complete with his own gear and motivation, whereas I mostly tag along and climb every third route. Matt had never been climbing on real rock before, and we were looking forward to getting him up the wall. We spent the next hour or two climbing until it began raining and then, deciding it was time to meet up with the rest of our group, we climbed up the creek and headed back to the car.

Once we were down the mountain, we headed to the beach to watch the sunset and play in the sand. It was definitely one of the prettier sunsets I’ve seen, and we had a great time running around the beach before heading back to the campsite for dinner and bed.
The next morning we woke up full of energy and started our day by climbing the big sycamore tree in our campsite. Then we headed off to Point Dume, where seaside cliffs provide rock climbing options right on the beach. We scrambled our way up the cliff trail to set up a top rope, where we found a group of schoolchildren, kindergarten-aged, playing at the top of the cliff and learning about the history of California and the local ecosystem. The kids were completely engrossed in their lesson, and it was great to know they were getting a regular dose of experiential learning.

We spent the rest of the day climbing and hiking along the coast, scrambling over tide pools and volcanic rocks, playing barefoot and watching crabs. Mary-Helen and Matt drew toe circles in the sand, standing on one foot and trying to draw a complete circle with the other foot without falling over; I chased waves, running in and out of the surf; and we all tried to catch sand fleas and looked for starfish clinging to the rocks. By mid-afternoon it was time to go home, back up the mountain to the snow and the cold. But the beach had been everything we’d needed – a fantastic weekend of good people, beautiful scenery and all of our favorite pastimes.

Jessi Burg is a 1st year staff with Avid4 Adventure. She just moved to Longmont after spending last year frolciking in the forests and mountains of California.

1 comment:

Mike Selvon said...

Hi,

Nice post and what a point California Dreaming. It's really Interesting.


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