I think I might be sinking... Throw me a line if I reach it in time.... I'll meet you up there where the path.... Runs straight and high.

First off, Sorry that some of the pictures are really dark, I was fightin the sun all day and the old Canon was givin it all she had.  Today we drove down about two miles past Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  Theres a narrow pull off and a road that doubles back on Highway 1 with a gate on it.  I assume this is a State or Federal park because of the signage in the area.  They have the whole "Undersea Forest" stand thats pretty standard.  

Trail Head w/gate

 The trail goes down and switches back pretty hard. The trails are nice and wide but a little steep.  Just enough to be uncomfortable walking regularly, not really a problem for us, but for really young ones and rally old ones this might not be the best trail for you.  When it rains, I bet this trail is a bitch too.

Swtchback

Gate at trailhead

View from trail

Undersea Forrest Signage

You go down the trail for a bit and there is a wooded part that is really nice.  You come to a bridge that has a tree as one of the corner posts.  It goes over a nice stream that gurgles through the woods.

Bridge over small stream

View over bridge

Trail after bridge

Turn right before tunnel

 After the bridge, the trail goes through the woods for a minute more, then there is an old tunnel lined with timbers.  Great place for a photo shoot.

Old tunnel

Ocean next to old tunnel

Trail after the tunnel

 The trail after the tunnel comes out to a cove with clear blue water and a nice railing that follows the shore on top of a cliff.  there are tunnels and arches in the water and the ocean is so clear here that you can see the bottom where there are whirlpools and seaweed growing from the floor of the cove.  the trail curves around and goes to a lookout point that has a railing and a bench to sit and chill lookin at the ocean.

Bench at the lookout

 There is a trail to the right if you go past the bench at the outlook point.  it goes along the edge of the cliff and is really not suitable for kids.  Its pretty demanding with drop offs that have to be climbed and you have to stay pretty close to the cliff face sometimes so ya don't fall off into the ocean.  I liked this trail.  It was a little more interesting than the other way, which was down the rocky point.  There were a couple of tide pools down there, I didn't go, the girl did, and there were some see urchins and crabs, I'll get pics next time for ya, or I could borrow hers.....

One of the drop offs you need to climb down

The edge of the cliff, I was right up against the cliff, so its pretty close

Part of the trail that falls off into the ocean

A weird eye we found painted on the rocks.  I always wonder what these things mean.  Was it planned, does it mean anything?  

View from the rocky out cropping

 There was a second trail branching off that goes down to a rocky beach.  The trail gois down through the woods and follows a stream that empties out into the ocean.  We were warm, and I decided to strip down to my underwear(calm down ladies....)  and wadded in about calf deep.  That didn't last long.  Cold as a motherfucker.  The beach is cool, really rocky and really turbulent surf.  The steam emptying into the ocean is really spectacular here.  Mossy rocks on the beach with a freshwater stream winding its way through rocks and crashing into the ocean through a series of small water falls.  Awesome.  The pinnacle of what a beautiful Big Sur beach is....  IMHO anyways.

Listening to today:
Led Zeppelin
Going to California
Spent my days with a woman unkind, Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine. 
Made up my mind to make a new start, Going To California with an aching in my heart. 
Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.

Steam on trail to the beach

Trail without stream

The trail goes by a large tree and rock that would be a good picnic stop in hot weather

Trail to beach

Beach

People did some rock stacking.  The girl and I do this.  Not today, we were kind of tired but we can go for an hour and a half sometimes without even thinking about it.  Theres something meditative about it.  

Stream that causes the mossy rocks on the shore

Stream

Freshwater pool above where the stream drops into the ocean

Trail back from the ocean

Sandpaper Hack

Here's a quick lazy mans tool fix.  The pre-cut sandpaper for those rectangular vibrating sanders is kinda expensive, so for years I have been cutting whole sheets of sandpaper in half and pinching it in, a little folding and it fits just as good as the pre-cut. Well a while back I thought "Why am I cutting it?"  So I just folded it and stuck it in, when I was done with that side, just flip it over, easy peasy, lemon cheesy. It also double plus it so the paper actually lasts longer.  Yay!

Growing pet food, above the pets!

 

We have a lot of pets.  And we are getting another one tomorrow.  Damn.  It really wont be a bother though.  Right now we have three Guinea Pigs, three rats, two dogs, and a bunny.  Tomorrow we are fostering another bunny.  However, fostering always turns into adopting.  Always.  At least for me.  So Marley, pictured right, will have a brother soon.  Whether either one wants one or not.  So we grow food for them.  WAY cheaper than buying it.  Wheatgrass grows like a weed.  I really really wish I had the pics before, because the difference in such a short period of time is pretty spectacular.  We took some tubs we got from home depot I think for sale, like a dollar or two apiece, we had em laying around and this turned out to be kismet because they fit perfectly in the top of the hutch I built for the rabbits and piggies.  So you can see the idea of the hitch by the picture.  Guinea Pigs on bottom, rabbit in the middle with a ramp going to the top level that has wheatgrass, the one pic was before the wheatgrass was grown and the bins were empty in the top.  we got a five pound bag of wheatgrass seed from the internets for like 5 bucks.  drilled holes in the bottom of two of the bins and put them into the ones without holes.  You gotta do this, there needs to be a lot of drainage.  You gotta water the crap outa these guys.  I sprouted the seeds in a bowl, I soaked em for a few days, then drained the water and let em sit with a few paper towels on top till they sprouted nice and big.  I put a couple inches of soil in each bin, and spread the sprouts evenly over the soil.  It looks like a lot, but don't let this fool you, each one of those seeds is gonna be a blade of grass, so you want em stacked up on top of each other.  I covered em with the bins lids with holes drilled in those too.  You need to let those guys breath!!!  Let that stew for a few days, you will start to see blades coming up from the root covered seeds!!!  Let there be light!!!  These things LOVE light and water.  I have a little 150 watt grow light, so I have that above it.  This is after a couple of weeks of growth.  Looks pretty cool huh?  Any questions on how to grow wheat grass, for your health or your pets, please ask!!

Currently listening to....
Hugo
99 Problems

Like broken glass under my feet I can lose my mind in the sea
Looking for prize but I don't blood, order one drink then I drink the flood
You can come inside but your friends can't come
99 problems and a bitch ain't one

After close inspection,      nice....  nice....

You can see where we harvested some for the kids

THE HUTCH.  

Where the rubber meets the.....herb?

The granite and marble shtuff

OK, so we needed some planters for our herbs and stuff this spring.  it's been in the 50's and 60's during the day here, so we decided to start a tire potter thing.  The caption says stage one, but stage one was actually stealing the tires.  We roamed around our local industrial area scoping for tires.  It actually took us awhile, tires are usually plentiful, but todays foray took a little longer.  We DID find some pieces of granite and marble countertop sections!  I don't know what Im gonna do with em yet, but I have an idea.... and coincidentally enough, it has to do with that wire spool they are sittin on.  Sooooo......  Stage one of construction, there you go, was stacking the tires in an eye pleasing manner.  Not so easy, took about half an hour of arranging but the lady found an eye pleasing arrangement.  They kind of hang off the back of each other, and when I am done I will show ya.  Stage two was filling em.  So we took Blue Thunder, our little car, up to the mushroom mulch pile.  It took a couple of trips, but we got enough to fill em, and I'm gonna top it off with a little potting soil I have. Flowers in the lower ones, and herbs and spinach in the top ones.  I think it'll look pretty dope when all the plants are in and a little grown.

Listening to currently
I'll be your Man
The Black Keys
Album: Rescue Me

Times gets tough, oh they get tougher
Hold on to me - I got you darling
Cus I'm the one who's gonna show when there's nobody

Stage One

Stage Two with one of my babies!

Surrender rises high... and I Gave what I came to give

 Text after Pictures!!!

Tree Hole!!

Limekiln Creek

Cool tree trunk on trail

One of the great bridges 

View from first bridge

Limekiln Creek 

Large hole in tree with boulder in middle

So, to start off my posting, I'll talk about an awesome place to go hiking, specially if you have little ones, the trails are fairly easy and short and beautiful enough to hold their attention.  Limekiln State Park is South of Big Sur off of Highway 1.  Right past the Lucia Lodge. the Lodge is really quaint and nice, they have a restaurant and a small general store, and of course rooms.  They are right on the edge of the cliff and look pretty dope, I will get a picture next time I go.  But don't buy anything!!  And I guarantee the restaurant is expensive because a can of Pringles, a couple drinks and a little package of Nutter Butters was 18 bucks.  Fo reals..    anyways, the park is really small and the entrance is smaller, so if you blink you'll miss it.  Look for the Limekiln State Park sign right after a bridge about 5 miles south of The Lucia Lodge.  Like all the parks around here, it's $10 to get in, and unfortunately, unlike most of the other parks, there is no place to park outside and walk in.  oh well.  You can use the ticket they give you when you get your day pass to get into all the other parks, so go on a day when you want to go to multiple parks.  Also, a good samaritan thing to do would be to give your pass to another park visitor to use the rest of the day.....  I know, I know, the parks need the money.  Well guess what? I am broke as a motherfucker, so live with it.  Anyways, we paid to get in.  There are a few trails here, the best two, cause I couldn't pick one, are the Falls Trail and the Creek Trail.  Both these trails are really wooded with old growth Redwoods and ferns with LOTS of fallen trees, HUGE fallen trees.  Lots or moss on these trails, and you may ask why I include this, me and my girlfriend are photographers, and the moss covered logs and rocks are awesome to take pics of, so there...  These trails really are like something out of a movie.  Huge 200 too 300 foot granite cliffs dwarfed by beautiful redwoods with large holes in the trunks you can walk through!  You can tell there was a fire here pretty recently, well in forest time.  The tree trunks are charred and a lot were felled and used for bridges and to shore up the pathways and loose hills.  I like when they do this, it looks more natural than other methods I've seen used.  The built bridges were all very sturdy and well maintained.  The improvised ones were pretty good.  Fallen logs and rocks are the norm.  At the end of the Falls Trail is a pretty spectacular waterfall.  The other name for the trail is 100 Foot Waterfall Trail,  and I believe it.  One river splits into two falls off of a granite cliff into clear pools that feed Limekiln Creek.  I can’t beat into your brain enough how fucking awesome this place is.  Under one of the falls is a couple of fallen trees that make for a pretty awesome photo op.  The Creek Trail just kind of ends......   however......  If you cross the creek a little before the sign that the trail ends, there are several LARGE fallen logs to cross, the trail continues and is just as good as the rest of the trail.  Lots of pics to follow!!  If you have any questions, please let me know!!

Part of the Falls Trail

Song of the day
Tear
Red Hot Chili Peppers


This is my time
This is my tear
I can see clearly now
That this is not a place
For playing solitaire
Tell me where you want me
This is my time
This is my tear

Falls Trail

My girlfriend neer the falls for some perspective

this old trunk was over 30 ft across, I wish I could have seen this tree

One of the many fallen trees

The falls

Road coming in from Highway 1

the falls

the bathrooms were amazingly clean, not for a park, just amazingly clean

To the campgrounds, the trashcans were everywhere and brand new

Trailhead

One of the campgrounds

The best campground in the place!

Trail stairs

Fields of clover

FACE!!

Huge granite cliffs

Some parts of the stream had pools 10 ft or more deep