VAST LIFE DIARIES - WEST COAST TRIP | DAY 9 BIG SUR - MORRO BAY
You won’t believe this, but we are pretty sure we encountered a ghost while camping at Big Sur. Confirming with some locals, we learned that certain parts of the woods have recorded paranormal activity, near by where we camped. After sleeping through the first night, we were doubtful and joked about some of the sounds and shadows we all experienced while in our own tents. The second night after learning about the spirits from locals, some of us were a bit frazzled. That said, we mostly felt that the spirit was friendly or playful. I won’t go into this too deeply, but these were definitely two very memorable nights for all of us that we will continue to talk and laugh about for the rest of our lives.
After spending a while in the morning sitting around the camp fire, warming up and talking about the sounds (and screams) we heard throughout the night, we packed up camp and slowly made our way to Morrow Bay. The heavy rains we had a couple years ago washed out a section of the Pacific Coast Highway between Big Sur and Morrow Bay, but luckily there was an access road through the mountains so we didn’t have to ride back towards Monterey and come back around. The ride through the access road was amazing! Before winding into the mountains, we had some grandiose views of the entire Big Sur coastline. The sun was out and the onshore winds we’ve been getting made the visibility excellent—we felt we could see all they way to San Francisco.
After riding through the mountains the air temps warmed up quite a bit. It was a nice change after being cold and layered up with clothes for the past few days. Before we knew it, we were in Morrow Bay. Tonight we will camp again, and the campsite is right on the beach with waves right in front. Unfortunately the waves were small and choppy so we decided to go down the beach a mile to Morrow Rock. Hopefully it would be a bit more organized.
On last year’s road trip, we had a magical dawn patrol session at Morrow Rock so I was really anticipating to paddle out there again. When we pulled up to the parking lot, the waves were still a bit messy but ridable. We quickly suited up and paddle out. There were maybe 5 other guys in the water. The wave was tricky, but it slowly cleaned up. By sunset, the waves were peeling nicely. Maybe we will try here again in the morning.
As we had a quick 10min photo sunet shoot session for the Syncro and the Harley by the beach, our friend, profession chef, Paul Arogonin, came out to meet us. He used to live in LA and now works in Morrow Bay as the head chef at Justin Vineyards. When Paul knew we were coming through Morrow Bay he said he’d come make dinner for us. Paul had already bought oysters and steak, so we stopped by the market for some condiments and firewood. Our campground by the beach was amazing, but the only thing we had to cook with was the fire pit and a couple cast iron pans. Paul said that’s enough for him to make dinner, and was he right. Dinner was an incredible feast of perfectly grilled New York trip tacos, chased by fresh oysters, and sweet corn. We ate and ate until we were stuffed beyond stuffed. As I’m trying to finish up today’s VAST Life diary entry, I’m also combating a losing battle of an enormous food coma. It’s been incredible and everyday just gets better. I don’t want this trip to end.