San Mateo Coast Camping

We began our last trip in California at Costa Noa, a ridiculously expensive but uniquely situated "environmental campground" on the San Mateo Coast, just south of Pigeon Point Light house. We met the Jagers there, our good friends from Southern California. I have known Marilynn since Junior High, and Paul since college (and knew both of them before they knew each other). We spent time with them in LA while we lived down there, and it was great to see them and their family again. Here are pics of the crew and camp.







While Marin has plenty of coastal beauty, we are so enchanted by the San Mateo Coast, and have been ever since our first trip to Ano Nuevo to watch the elephant seals. The place feels (and is) remarkably wild, even though it is just over the hill from Silicon Valley and its burbs. The many beaches have an untouched feel, and it seems every time we go, there are almost no crowds. That despite sitting just an hour and a half from our house, with San Francisco in between. Really a special place, as I hope you can see from these pictures, taken on a beach trail just below the camp.








The midpoint of the trail brought a beautiful, deserted beach (it was a foggy day in the middle of the week) and tide pools for the kids (and kids at heart) to explore.





We finished our stay there with a quick trip to Pigeon Point Lighthouse. (It is great fun and inexpensive to stay in the family room of the hostel there, which we have done on other occasions.)



From there, we headed to Santa Cruz, Monterey and Big Sur. More to come on that.