Mid Sierra Musings: Cambria And San Simeon: A Respite From The Fresno Heat

Dale Matson

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Moonstone Beach Cambria CA

Ok, so we just had to get away from weeks of triple-digit-bad-air in Fresno so we headed to the central CA coast for a couple of days. It’s about 150 miles and 2.5 hours of driving to get to Cambria taking Highway 41 South and Highway 46 West to Highway One. It’s been about 5 years for me and I had forgotten the huge contrast.

Would Highway One be built today with all the environmental implications, lack of fresh water and frequent landslide closures? Probably not but that is a moot point since the buildings and infrastructure have been in place for years creating a lovely place to entice tourists.

We left Fresno where the temperature that day would reach 106 degrees and arrived in Cambria for lunch. We sat outside for lunch, needing to quickly find a place where we could sit in the sun to stay warm in the 63-degree weather. Much of the language around us was European. At our Fresno Costco most of the many languages are not European.

The rule of thumb is fog on the coast translates to heat in Fresno. And that is what we had much of the time. Note to self, ALWAYS bring a jacket to the coast. Our beach walks along Moonstone Beach required even more clothing than I brought with me. It was an onshore breeze and I was cold with long pants, a long-sleeved wool shirt and a hooded sweatshirt over that! I forgot to bring a hat and my face was bright red after one day. I am unaccustomed to noise of the surf which is continuous with alternating crescendos and pianissimos.

After two occasions of walking (with our shoes off), Sharon sat down near more serious rock hounds and began sifting through the piles of pebbles for Moonstones. She used a Glucerna bottle from my travel breakfast for her rocks but the serious folks had two gallon pails. I eventually tired of sitting and watching and headed back to the motel for a nap.

Driving up the coast near Cambria is much different than the Monterey and Big Sur area where there are large cliffs along the ocean. I twice ran the Big Sur Marathon before it became so popular that they began using a lottery system.

We went past the Randolph Hearst Castle set far east of the highway on a hilltop. At one time Hearst owned 50 miles of oceanfront property. We took the tour years ago. There are still zebras on the fenced property not far from the highway.

There is an area near there where elephant seals congregate on the beach. They are impressive in size and noisy. They remind me of the fictional Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.

Since I spend 95% of my “away” time in the mountains, it was quite a contrast to go from 11,053’ on top of Mammoth Mountain last week to 10’ below sea level at low tide on Moonstone Beach. It was also about 15 degrees warmer on top of Mammoth Mountain.

We were however, happy to be on the coast and liked being chilly for a spell. The air had an ocean scent to it but it was easy breathing air without the cumulative impurities the wind brings to the central valley. There is also the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite that is adding smoke to a vast area of central California. We had a great time and the salt water taffy tasted super. The central coast is popular with Fresno folks.

This was also a break from big cameras to only my Sony RX100m3. It is a great little camera that is also easy to video with.