August 27, 2017
Duration: 2 days
Mileage: 500
Starting point: Irvine, CA
States: CA
Budget for 2 people: $210 ($58 camp, $60 gas, $70 food, $20 other)
- Day 0: drive to Montana de Oro State Park, California
- Day 1: explore the park and nearby hiking trails
- Day 2: relax by the beach; drive back home
If you are looking for a place to spend the weekend close by the beach and avoid crowds then Montana de Oro state park is a perfect place. It is located 6 miles southwest of Morro Bay and it takes only 4.5 h to get there from Irvine if traffic is good. On Friday evening it took us 5.5 h.
We stayed in a spacious primitive campground located in the heart of the park for 2 nights. Our spot 39 was very spacious and flat, we could easily fit there at least 4 tents. There are no showers in the campground though. The closest town is 15 min drive away and has Starbucks and Ralphs.
There are numerous trails for hiking, mountain biking, horse riding by the beach or in the mountains. The closest beach to the campground is Spooner’s Cove:
We decided to hike ~2.5 mi (one way) trail by the beach - Bluff trail. Here are some pictures from there:
When Bluff trail ends there is a private territory that can be hiked too. You need to register at the entrance to be able to hike 7 mi round trip Point Buchon Trail. Unfortunately, we didn’t do the whole trail but the views are truly amazing as you can see from the pictures below.
