This last weekend, my girlfriend the dog and I took a drive down the central coast of California to meet up with my sister and her boyfriend for some dispersed camping in the Los Padres National Forest, south of Big Sur.
Always a favorite part of the trip
Packed and fueled
Drove south to Old Coast Road, on the north side of the iconic Bixby Bridge (photo is from the road, but I took it a few months back)
Continuing on, the road winds through the redwoods, along a few creeks, up into the chaparral environment on the high grassy plains, then back down to Highway 1 at Andrew Molera State Beach.
We then met up with the other party and headed down the coast, and up the hill towards our camping site for the night
Arriving at the camp site, we found a good spot and set up camp
I usually focus on the beer, but the view from the chair was too good...
Sunset wasn't bad either
Scouted our camping site for the next trip in the morning
Headed back down the hill, and back home. It was a short, but really awesome little trip. On the way down, I swapped seats and gave an "offroad 101" course to the girlfriend. We went over navigating washboards/ruts/rain channels, speed control, and how to engage the 4wd system. It's really fun knowing that she's up for learning to drive the 4Runner off road.
Until next time...