Friday 3 August, 2018
At 6:30 am I am back on the computer. It is now too late to book a campsite online for Sunday night, but I find a site at Ponderosa Campground that is available for Monday and Tuesday. As we have no definite plans for tonight, I also book a motel room in King City, California on the east side of Los Padres National Forest. Now we can be a bit more relaxed about today’s schedule. After a lovely breakfast of honey wheat pancakes with strawberries, we return to our motel room. We are enjoying the cloudy grey skies, this time from fog, not smoke. The air smells clean and delightful. I spend the next 1 ½ hours on the phone with recreation.gov trying to cancel the rest of our Yosemite reservation and arrange for a refund.
That job finally done, we are on the road again. We stop first at Monterey’s REI for a few forgotten odds and ends, and then stop at Trader Joe’s to get O some roasted hazelnuts which I also forgot to pack. Of course while there, we must buy some more cookies and chocolate bars. Next we search for diesel fuel for Vincent as there is none along the Coastal Highway. Once Vincent is fueled we take Highway 1 south.
Highway 1 has been recently reopened after a rockslide blocked the road for several months. We enjoy the stunning ocean views as we drive the winding road. The vistas definitely provide some consolation for having to leave Yosemite. We stop at the ranger station along the road to ask for advice about camping in Los Padres as we still have no definite place to stay either Saturday or Sunday night. The volunteers at the post advise us that we will need a permit even for our propane stove if we boondock. Campfires are, of course, banned. They believe we might find an empty site at Ponderosa Campground since it’s on the eastern side of the forest, but they also recommend boondocking along South Ridge Crest Road if all else fails. There are some beautiful ocean views from up there.
We continue south along the coast until we come to Nacimiento-Fergusson road. This is one of those narrow, winding, no guard rail, sheer drop off, palpitation inducing roads that I “love.” I actually manage to drive the first several miles of it myself, before I let O take over for the rest of the trip. As we wind our way over the mountains we pass the turn off to South Ridge Crest Road, an unpaved road which looks as if it might be even more terrifying. We save that adventure for another day.
We finally arrive at Nacimiento Campground and drive through. All sites are occupied. Three miles further east is Ponderosa Campground. All sites there are taken as well. O stops to ask some of the campers if they know where the host is. No one has seen the host. We explain we have no place to stay Saturday or Sunday night. One camper, Manny, generously offers to share his site. He says there is plenty of room. We thank him profusely and head down to King City for the night as we already have a reservation there, but we tell him we may be back.
The county road proceeds eastward from the National Forest onto Fort Hunter Liggett military base. We are now in hilly dry country with scattered large oak trees. Soon we approach a barrier with a soldier standing guard. There are a couple of cars pulled off to the side of the road. Another soldier approaches Vincent to explain that there is a live fire exercise going on and we will not be able to pass for approximately 40 minutes. O parks Vincent and we break out our camp chairs. We read and journal in the shade of one of the trees while we wait. The temperature is in the upper 90’s but it is actually pretty pleasant under our tree.
In almost exactly 40 minutes we are given the OK to proceed. Another half hour or so of driving brings us to King City and an excellent dinner at the Cork and Plough.