A Family Hike to Devil's Landslide

We used to hike quite a bit as a family. Then it became weekly hikes for the girls and me. Then I got obsessed with coaching and book publicity, and the girls signed up for various classes, and, well, we just got off track.

Today we went on our first family hike in quite some time - a hike that included ALL FOUR of us. Sure, during our Big Adventure Mr. B joined us for exploration of the Black Hills of South Dakota, but our last family hike here on the coast was clear back in November. Before that? I don't have ANY idea.

We headed out to the Nipomo-Guadalupe Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, aka Main Street Beach west of Guadalupe, CA. The girls were real troopers as we headed 2.5 miles south to Devil's Slide at Mussel Rock. When I was a kid, this was a driving route, but it's been closed to vehicular access since the late 1980s. The only way to get there now is to walk. The hike can be REALLY windy and the sand can be incredibly soft, not to mention the mileage that was simply too long for little kids' legs.

It was really fabulous to share this special spot with my whole family. Mr. B and I had come down here before the girls were born, perhaps even before we were married. So it'd been awhile. We climbed the slide and headed out to The End of the World where some wildflowers were already in full bloom and others will be ready to pop in coming weeks. Then we climbed further to the top of the sand mountain, explored coyote tracks, enjoyed a fabulous smorgasbord-style lunch overlooking Paradise Beach, and returned to the beach via a leap off The End of the World.

I didn't remember there being so many rocks at this end of the beach, and certainly didn't remember a rock bluff at the bottom of the slide. We found some obsidian, wonderful clay, and 18 pounds of trash on our long hike back to the car.

What a fabulous family day!

Share this post with: