Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Plaskett Creek Campground, CA Coast

 

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It was another short driving day, 35 miles, but once you get north of Hearst Castle Hwy 1 becomes a bit like a baby roller coaster, with ups and downs, hairpin turns, cars passing on blind curves, and unexpected cyclists to look out for. Quite a ride!

I went ahead in the car to check out our options for a place to stay. We hoped to get an ocean view site at Kirk Creek, a Forest Service campground, but had read about a possible boondocking site 5 miles or so before that, so I wanted to see if it was possible for us. Unfortunately it was a very steep, rutted, single lane gravel road, and I wasn’t even comfortable driving the Subaru up it. And even if we were able to get the Lazy Daze up the hill the spots were barely long enough for our 30’.

On to plan B to check out Plaskett Creek, another Forest Service campground. On my first drive through I wasn’t impressed. It’s a very shady spot on the east side of Hwy 1, and though most of the sites looked too small or too unlevel, there were a few I thought we could fit in.

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So I headed up to Kirk Creek, where again most of the sites were too short, too sloped, or reserved. Darn! I went back and found Jim and Debbie parked in a pull-out and told them we would just have to make Plaskett Creek work, since it looked like our only option. We managed to find a fairly level site, and after we pulled in realized we had a limited view of the Pacific through the trees. Not bad for $12.50/night with Jim’s senior pass! They have flush toilets, water and garbage but no dump.

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After we got settled we took a drive north to look at Kirk Creek again, debating on whether we should try for a site there the next day. We also found another possible boondocking site which we may check on today to see if it’s occupied.

Late yesterday afternoon Jim and I walked down a trail just across the highway to Jade Cove, an area where it is legal to take as much jade as you can find without using tools. We couldn’t figure out how anyone could safely get down to the shoreline to search for it, since we were so high up on the rocky bluffs.

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Jim made me nervous trying to climb down the rocks.

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We finally spotted a rope down a steep rocky slope and saw someone heading that way. This is how they get down to search for jade. Jim wanted to follow him but I thought it was a bad idea.

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You can barely see him down there. Nice guy, makes necklaces with the jade, and gave us some small pieces.

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Although Plaskett Creek is a nice enough campground, we lost our sun by 4 pm, and at 9:30 this morning it still hadn’t come up over the trees. It’s just too dark and too cold for us here, so today we’re heading out to look for a more open spot.

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