Morro Bay — The little weekend getaway that begs for one more day, one more night, one more hike . . .
Californians are not generally as susceptible to the January “blahs” as folks in, say, Minnesota, but the combination of post-holiday-season letdown and penitential New Year’s resolutions can still lead to a case of January blues. A week at a spa in Bali might do it, were it not for those equally oppressive post-holiday bills.
The answer might well lie just 240 miles south of Oakland, a four-hour drive down Interstate 880 to Highway 101, followed by a sharp right at Atascadero, in the shoreside town of Morro Bay.
This community, and its near neighbors Los Osos and Avila Beach, provides miles of trails for hiking and gently rolling roads for biking, allowing those with exercise resolutions to break in easily. The cubicle-bound can gain a new appreciation of nature via bountiful bird- and animal-watching opportunities. The restaurants are good without being fussy or pretentious, and the lodgings are priced just right from January to April. Should a smidgen of indulgence be necessary—just to taper off from December—there are wonderful wineries and even a budget-friendly spa experience, all within a 20-minute drive.
The famous Morro Rock was first described by European explorers when Cabrillo passed by in 1542; he thought it resembled a Moorish turban. The Spanish ignored the inlet and its treacherous currents and sand bars even while noting the sheltered bay; it attracted little interest even when Mexican land grants planted cattle and dairy ranchos across thousands of acres all around Morro Bay.
The city of Morro Bay is thus a relative newcomer in California coastal terms. The first recorded settler was a farmer named Riley who moved his family there in 1864. His 160-acre homestead was a cornerstone of the town in 1870, when he also began construction of a wharf that could serve ships coming in to purchase his barley. His 200 neighbors were more interested in the eucalyptus seedlings he gave away—the only plants that could hold the windblown sand and stabilize the village streets.
The Rock is no longer the island “a gun-shot’s distance from shore,” as Don Gasper de Portolá described it in his journal, but was bound to the mainland by an isthmus built by the Works Progress Administration in 1933. By 1939, the town had 400 residents, and the entrance to the protected part of the bay was improved by jetties, making Morro Bay a booming port for commercial fishing, with vessels bringing in albacore tuna, salmon and rock cod. Around that time, the WPA also turned its attention to Morro Bay State Park, upgrading the golf course and improving the campsites there.
Since the 1960s, when Morro Bay incorporated, the Embarcadero has remained Morro Bay’s focal point, as gift shops replaced warehouses and tourists gradually replaced seamen. In 1968, when it became State Historical Landmark No. 821, Morro Rock was finally recognized as worthy of protection as a unique landmark—and taken out of service as a gigantic rock quarry.
Rare and Wild
The Rock is not Morro Bay’s only natural element deserving preservation. Ten state or local parks and nature preserves within Morro Bay and Los Osos protect thousands of acres that serve as breeding and nesting rookeries, feeding grounds and rare habitat. Among the most unusual are the 800 acres of rare salt-marsh estuary at Morro Estuary Natural Preserve, and the strange pygmy oaks of the El Moro Elfin Forest. Among the most accessible are the 8,000 trail-threaded acres of dunes, chaparral, wetlands and crags in Montaña de Oro State Park.
This complex habitat reflects the remarkable diversity of birds and mammals that make their homes there. Bobcats, mountain lions, foxes and badgers prowl the wilderness, while seals, sea lions and sea otters splash and tumble in the bay. Peregrine falcons hunt from the top of the Rock while snowy plovers nest in the sands below, and countless songbirds, shorebirds and waterfowl forage freely.
Morro Bay’s astonishing avian richness is celebrated during the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, Jan. 12-15. Past Bird Festival attendees have counted more than 220 different species—from tiny oak titmice to great blue herons and golden eagles—during the four-day event (held annually over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend).
With 18 to 30 different walks, talks, boat trips and special events every day, birders both novice and experienced will find plenty to choose from. The wise will try to balance a strenuous hike (say, across the deep sand of Morro Dunes Natural Preserve) with a harbor cruise in search of pelagic birds like shearwaters and kittiwakes. Experts lead workshops in Capturing Wildlife Digitally (for photographers) or Drawing Habitat and Land Birds (even for non-artists), Birding by Ear (a two-part session that starts in the classroom before taking to the meadows and woodlands), and the Basics of Bird ID. Other critters are covered by observing elephant seals during the pupping season at Point Piedras Blancas, and Living with ’Lions—mountain lions, that is. Owls, gulls, loons, shorebirds, even bats and “Hard to ID Birds” each get a special session all to themselves.
Hike, Paddle and Roll
Enjoying Morro Bay’s natural beauty doesn’t require a guide and reserved seat in the mini-van: there are miles of trails and bike routes to explore on your own. Start at the Morro Bay State Park Natural History Museum, just to familiarize yourself with the terrain. Follow that with an easy stroll along the shore or a fairly strenuous hike up Black Hill beyond the 18-hole golf course. The eucalyptus trees near the base of the hill are remnants of Riley’s plantations; they’re now a rookery for cormorants, egrets and herons (come later in spring for “lively brooding behavior,” according to museum docents).
Elfin magic: Frodo and friends would feel at home in this diminutive forest.
Photo by Laura Cameron.
Another intriguing walking tour—all on boardwalks that twist and climb the sandy hills—is through the El Moro Elfin Forest on the Los Osos side of the estuary. This coastal dune scrub habitat is increasingly rare: walking into the Rose Bowen Grove of pygmy oak trees that barely top 12 feet, yet are hundreds of years old, is like entering a Hobbit town.
Volunteers with the Central Coast Natural History Association and State Parks docents lead regularly scheduled trail walks exploring every nook and cranny of Montaña de Oro State Park throughout the winter months (mostly on weekends but also on several weekdays). The Pecho Players pitch in with Living History Days at Spooner Ranch House, reenacting pioneer days on the Central Coast by inviting curious visitors to sit a spell and chat in the old ranch house’s parlor.
Cyclists are spoiled for choice around Morro Bay, particularly for on-road touring. Two-lane blacktop roads undulate over soft hills beneath the chain of volcanic mounts that culminate in Morro Rock itself; bike lanes are common and respected by locals. Biking in Montaña de Oro is like taking on Big Sur (where cyclists are discouraged from the narrow and busy blacktop), with several off-road options. If you don’t like doing all the hard work yourself, there are several riding stables around the bay, providing mount and tack and guidance to the nearest beachside gallop.
Down at shore level, stable “sit-on-top” kayaks are available for rent at several Embarcadero establishments. Those new to paddling receive free instruction (it takes just minutes to get the hang of it), and guides are available to steer paddlers around the harbor and to the most interesting wildlife hangouts. The truly lazy may bring the whole family (and a picnic) aboard an eight-passenger electric boat.
Shop, Sip and Spa
All this hard work deserves some reward, and Morro Bay rises to the occasion with generosity.
Seekers of casual souvenirs are sure to find ample supplies on the Embarcadero, along with salt-water taffy and fish-and-chips. More unusual mementos (or clean clothes to change into after an unpracticed moment in that kayak) can also be found on the Embarcadero—Poppy for warm sweaters and fleeces, Fiona Bleu and By The Bay Gallery for top-quality art glass and visual art. Another group of inviting shops lines a sleepy three- or four-block stretch of Main Street, the town’s north-south artery, near Morro Bay Boulevard. Most intriguing stops include Sunfire Gallery, a glass studio; Full Moon Pottery Studio; the Morro Bay Art Gallery (showing works of the Morro Bay Art Association members); and Coalesce, a bookstore-cum-wedding-garden. Funkiest of all must be La Maison Bleue: The courtyard outside is filled with wrought-iron gazebos decked out with fountains and fairy lights, while the tiny shop is crammed with whimsical jewelry, teapots and handmade scarves. A two-block street market takes place on Saturday evenings year-round.
Morro Bay also possesses a plethora of restaurants, from finger food on the Embarcadero to fine dining overlooking the marina. Among the best bets for early morning coffee are Kitty’s Kitchen and neighboring Two Dogs Coffee House, but for proper breakfast try The Coffee Pot, where the java lives up to the decor, or Dorn’s Original Breakers Café, perched on the bluff overlooking the Embarcadero and bay. Dorn’s also serves generous platters of seafood at lunch and dinner, with salads and steaks for those not yet converted to fresh fish.
Two undisputed gems of fine dining offer two very different views of the bay. Windows on the Water—overlooking the bay in Marina Square—has in Chef Pandee Pear-son a creative wiz, taking even the humble sand dab and whirling it into a crisp little roll of sweet white fish rafting on a garlicky potato-pancake bed. The waterside Orchid at the Inn at Morro Bay, within Morro Bay State Park, possesses an equally inventive chef, and is much in demand for weddings and banquets.
To collect a picnic lunch before hiking into Montaña de Oro, stop in one of several good cafés in Los Osos: the Garden Café, Cad’s Café or Carlock’s Bakery. Carlock’s is particularly well known locally for its dazzlingly creative special occasion cakes.
If hiking has worked up your thirst—or watching greedy birds peck at lingering grapes on a vine has provoked viticultural envy—there are several wineries in easy striking distance of Morro Bay. Down-home, folksy and possessed of a large flock of peacocks that assault the grapevines in the winery’s front yard, Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards and Winery is tucked up a twisting canyon road on the way to Avila Beach. As befits a winery with an apple orchard as a neighbor, Kelsey See offers tasty little oddities like Apple Merlot, but the real winners are the new 2004 Syrah and the Black Box Zinfandel.
Right in the town of Avila Beach, the go-to place for fine wines is Alapay Cellars. The modern lines of the brand-new tasting room are softened by mosaic fish embedded in the polished concrete floor and two huge tropical aquariums. The handcrafted wines are made with 40 percent fewer sulfites than typical wines; the results are intensely flavorful and ready to drink without additional cellarage. The currently available Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir are medal-winners, but everything on the tasting list is tempting.
After so many difficult decisions, or miles of hiking if you were diligently working the fitness program, conclude the weekend with a swim and a soak in the natural sulphur hot springs bubbling up through the shale around Avila Beach. The glamorous way to do so is by staying at the Sycamore Springs Resort, where access to beautifully landscaped pools and spa baths (to say nothing of massage, Ayurvedic practitioners, tai chi classes and a pair of meditation labyrinths) comes only with a night at the inn.
But on a January budget, continue along Avila Springs Road to the public swimming pool and hot tubs at Avila Hot Springs, where a $9 ticket gives cramped muscles a full day of swimming and soaking in 104°F spring water. Then stay an extra night in one of their rustic cabins, just to hear those birdsongs one more time. l
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Laura Cameron is based in Southern California but loves to travel near or far, as long as it is frequent. She writes about heritage tourism, fine wines and dining, and family expeditions. She is working on a book about Universal Design for homes in America.
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