Pt. Buchon Trail

One of my favorite local places is Montana De Oro State Park. It seems like we've been there so many times yet we've only scratched the surface of everything there is to see. Most of these places I do not even know exist. There was one trail that we were aware of and have always wanted to explore. It has been closed since before I moved to the area. It is finally open again and we were excited to spend a beautiful Sunday taking a walk.

After passing the guard station (the land is controlled by PG&E and is right next to a nuclear power plant), the first view is amazing.



Next we came to a great cove beach complete with cool sea caves.



The most amazing thing was the wildflowers.



Notice those funny white poles in the ground. They hold up the electric fence... yikes!! There are so many more flowers here than along the bluff trail just north in the state park. I wonder if the electric fence keeps animals (especially two-legged ones) from trampling them. Whatever the reason, I was in flower-photography heaven.





The only downside to the walk was the length. The whole loop is 5 miles and after 3 the girls were ready to stop, by 4 miles we were nearly dragging them back. Ah well, it was worth it.