back from Pismo...
well, that was a bit of a shock.
End of July trip during the week.
Got there on Monday, left on Wednesday.
Somebody forgot to tell me that during the summer they close down half the beach (everything East of pole 6) from the water to about 300 yards in so no access to water there.
The first half (well, the camping part), West of pole 6 was literally crammed with huge RVs and toyboxes. There was not a spot on first line unoccupied. The boxes were lined up 10 yards apart or less. And that for a couple of hundred yards in, maybe 10 deep or so. Plus many did rope off large areas around their RVs.
So impossible to get close to the water. And repeat, this were weekdays.
Fortunately, and interestingly/surprisingly, the crowd stopped abruptly at pole 6 where the water access was curtailed. So I took the tent trailer (was not obvious given the soft sand and skinny tires - I was dragging the thing leaving 2 foot-deep furrows behind me) a bit further East and camped in the dunes. Only 1/2 mile East of the crowd. Nobody. Didn't see any RVs from my site. Perfect view of the water from higher up except for the fence surrounding the bird site. Considering the huge crowd further West, the traffic close to us was not bad if very loud and obnoxious usually. And, nicely enough, the partiers must sleep in cuz traffic was very light until 11 or so.
Unfortunately, also no sun except for 1 hour or so each day.
Anyway, this was not what I expected.
Hope this is helpful in helping you plan.
added: oh, and interestingly, even though there were hundreds, maybe a thousand or 2 of pick up trucks on the beach, most lifted with big tires etc, there were basically no 4x4 in the dunes. Saw one baja style race truck trying to crush kids at high speed, a couple of wranglers and Cherokees, and maybe 20 or so other trucks in the sand over the 3 days I was there. Clearly these guys use the trucks to drag the RVs on the beach and then go raise hell on quads or motorcycles. But using these fancy pickups for wheeling? Noooo sir.... But a million quads in the dunes and half that of motorcycles. And clearly having a contest on who can be louder and come closer to your camp. Finally put up a big line of tape across a bit from the trailer to keep them at bay. It worked...
Saw plenty of stuck pickup trucks on the beach, though....
well, that was a bit of a shock.
End of July trip during the week.
Got there on Monday, left on Wednesday.
Somebody forgot to tell me that during the summer they close down half the beach (everything East of pole 6) from the water to about 300 yards in so no access to water there.
The first half (well, the camping part), West of pole 6 was literally crammed with huge RVs and toyboxes. There was not a spot on first line unoccupied. The boxes were lined up 10 yards apart or less. And that for a couple of hundred yards in, maybe 10 deep or so. Plus many did rope off large areas around their RVs.
So impossible to get close to the water. And repeat, this were weekdays.
Fortunately, and interestingly/surprisingly, the crowd stopped abruptly at pole 6 where the water access was curtailed. So I took the tent trailer (was not obvious given the soft sand and skinny tires - I was dragging the thing leaving 2 foot-deep furrows behind me) a bit further East and camped in the dunes. Only 1/2 mile East of the crowd. Nobody. Didn't see any RVs from my site. Perfect view of the water from higher up except for the fence surrounding the bird site. Considering the huge crowd further West, the traffic close to us was not bad if very loud and obnoxious usually. And, nicely enough, the partiers must sleep in cuz traffic was very light until 11 or so.
Unfortunately, also no sun except for 1 hour or so each day.
Anyway, this was not what I expected.
Hope this is helpful in helping you plan.
added: oh, and interestingly, even though there were hundreds, maybe a thousand or 2 of pick up trucks on the beach, most lifted with big tires etc, there were basically no 4x4 in the dunes. Saw one baja style race truck trying to crush kids at high speed, a couple of wranglers and Cherokees, and maybe 20 or so other trucks in the sand over the 3 days I was there. Clearly these guys use the trucks to drag the RVs on the beach and then go raise hell on quads or motorcycles. But using these fancy pickups for wheeling? Noooo sir.... But a million quads in the dunes and half that of motorcycles. And clearly having a contest on who can be louder and come closer to your camp. Finally put up a big line of tape across a bit from the trailer to keep them at bay. It worked...
Saw plenty of stuck pickup trucks on the beach, though....
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