Took this photo from a dead eucaplytus grove of the sun rising over Park Ridge in Morro Bay State Park:
It was the first find of Day Two of my THIRD two-day road-trip to San Luis Obispo in just over a month (because when it's over 100 degrees in LA, up in SLO it's in the 70s) and it hadn't been found since 2017. In fact, I was only the third finder since January 2008.
I'd been planning these trips out since the end of last year, as I was approaching having every box within a 200 mile drive, so needed to expand my radius to 250. This initially resulted in a three-day road-trip to Fresno (last found in 2013!) back in May.
The first SLO trip had a long hike each day, but focused on short hikes and drive-bys working my way from Los Osos to Morro Bay (unfound since 2021), then I drove up PCH to Ragged Point for the night. Day Two I worked my way back down through Cambria and Cayucos (and a fish not found since 2017).
The second trip started with a side-quest NOT to Pozo, but again focused on short hikes and drive-bys up the 101 from Atascadero to Templeton (last found in 2013!) to Paso Robles to San Miguel (first finder on a four-year-old box), then Day Two headed back to the coast and down to a hike in Montana de Oro.
This third trip now focused on the more difficult hikes, with Day One working towards making AQ #1 my find 5000. Prior to that sunrise box, I had already started by finding 5 others that had gone unfound for 8 to 10 years. As interest in this hobby has waned, some older boxes start feeling like actual buried treasure.
Cal Poly, you're next!
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