Keeping “In The Groove” with outdoor activities is turning out to be such a blessing. I never thought being in a pandemic would turn out to be one of the healthiest things that has happened to me. My friend, Sue, has been a real proponent of exploring new hikes and trails. I am stoked to have shown her some of my favorite hikes and trails in Montana De Oro State Park.

I was so fortunate when I first moved here back in 95’ that my good friend Mike Beauchemin was working at Morro Bay State park and pulled into the Rock parking lot when I was just getting out of the water from surfing. He asked if I’d be interested in picking up a temporary gig doing trail surveys and trail work for the parks dept. I jumped all over it, needless to say!

I was hired on and became close friends with Mike, Bruce Mundt who had previously worked at Hearst Castle. We became The 3 Amigos of MDO!

Our task every day was to do trail surveys and determine which trails were handicap accessible, which included clearing poison oak, trees, branches whatever would impede access for a wheel chair. This required the trail to be 4 ft. wide by 8 ft. tall. Wouldn’t you know there were only 2 trails in the park that met those specs!

So off to work we went with a clinometer (which measures distance and grade), Polaskys, McClouds, tree saws and a variety of hand tools to dig, cut and clear.

I never had so much fun!

We laughed a lot while we worked. Those 2 guys have great senses of humor, but they were also so knowledgeable about tools, all the flora and fauna in the park, as well as the animal life.

It was one of the best times of my life AND I got to know every trail in MDO.

So, for Thanksgiving, Sue and I hiked up the Bloody Nose trail behind Hazard Canyon near Camp Keep which was deserted due to the Covid. We found a bench called the Contemplation bench. Classic! We took turns “contemplating”. It was an epic Thanksgiving adventure.