Elephant seals, zebras and San Andreas fault

We finally pulled out of the Monterey area and headed south once again. We passed through Big Sur, famous for big vista and big surfable waves, and made our way down the coast to San Simeon State Park. After nearly a month of motels we finally pulled out the camping gear and found a small spot under a tree in a state park.

The landscape has truly turned foreign and weird. Palm trees are now common, and I spotted my first of many real live wild cacti. The trees in the campground were all unknown pines … and they were short. Too short to hang our food bag from. Luckily the hiker/biker campsite had a food box, which kept the racoons, skunks and other small critters from eating our dinner.

Although the highway separated our campground from the ocean, there was a short path under the road which led to the beach. As usual, the view was stunning, and hard to put into words. Instead, I’ll let the  Ann-o-rama (thanks Arin 🙂 ) speak for us:

While at the campsite we met some interesting people, including a young couple who are bicycling to Argentina from BC. She was from Quebec and he from France, and together they were peddling their way down in the cause of sustainable agriculture. Fascinating and fun folks. They even expressed some appreciation for our little journey (humouring the old folks, no doubt). Check out their website. http://www.semeenselle.com.

This area of the California coast is amazing, not just for its beauty, but also for being the location of Hearst Castle (a la William Randolph Hearst, the 19th and early 20th century newspaper magnate and inspiration for the classic, Citizen Kane). But the real highlight is the hundreds of elephant seals that have come ashore to begin their birthing and mating season. It was an incredible sight to see these massive animals in their actual habitat, doing what they do. For females it was mostly sleeping, birthing and nursing, barking, and fending off the unwanted advances of teenage males. For the younger males it was a lot of growling, displaying and practice fighting.

I was all excited to see the young males, but then one of the volunteer guides explained that those were just kids playing. Then she pointed out a real Alpha Male. He was massive, with a and huge trunk that put the youngins to shame. We learned the alphas can weigh in at  5,000 pounds. The mature females are a tiny 1,800 pounds in comparison.

While we were there we got to see a scene right out of a nature documentary. At one point an uppity male tried to put the moves on one this big guy’s females. He came charging over, growling and displaying his full form. He then proceeded to scatter the whole beach of all the lesser males. Everywhere he dragged his massive bulk all the other seals, both male and female, would scatter. We spent a couple of hours just watching and being amazed by these bulky water denizens. We were even treated to the view of the first newborn of the season.

As we were getting ready to head back to camp a volunteer asked if we had stopped to see the zebras  … Err, what now!?! Apparently the same maniacal builder of castles, also had a thing for zebras. Hearst had a bunch brought over from Africa, and then now roam the area ranch land, mixing with the cattle. Low and behold, as we drove back to camp what do we spy but a bunch of black and white stripped horse-like things in amongst the cows. Had to stop and take a picture:

The time along the coast has been spectacular, but new adventures call, and it is time to turn our backs to the sea and start heading inland. We spent one last evening smelling the salt air and enjoying the surf and animal life.

We packed our tent, our bags, and our bikes, and after one more short run along the coast we turned east and headed into the dry California hills. Our route took us right over the infamous San Andreas fault line, which is the likely location of the west coast’s future shoreline after the next Big One comes. It also took us through what will no doubt become the norm for a while: a dry, dusty, and almost alien landscape.

We arrived in Bakersfield, and not finding any suitable campsites we checked into yet another cheap motel. We’re working on getting up, and then down into Death Valley. This is no small feat at this time of year for those of us on motorcycles. We have to get up and over a couple of mountain ranges, before we can take the deep plunge into the deep dry valley. A weather window is opening on the weekend though, so we’ll linger here till Saturday. We can catch up on laundry, and enjoy the pub that is within easy stagger distance. It has $3 IPA on tap, plus great food, all at cheap prices. Gotta love happy hour!