Day 5 – LA -> San Louis Obispo

So today, I started my trip up the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Up at 4:30 this morning was a right pain, but I managed it, and from there proceeded via subway to Union Station. My Amtrak train departed on time at 7:30AM, and we were off through the suburbs of Los Angeles, then out via Ventura, Oxnard and up the Pacific coast. I must admit that, after my first experience with the subject, I have nothing but good things to say about long-distance train travel. The seats are bigge and more comfortable than a plane, there are fewer people and more room in the aisles and, most importantly, you can spend hours on end just taking in the scenery, which is always changing.

And man, was there ever scenery. The Pacific Coast between LA and SF is spectacular, and I reckon it looks even better from a train than a car – in the train, there's not all that tarmac, all those petrol stations or all those road signs to distract you. In addition, I came across what appeared to be a huge military base (or something similar). Basically, I was staring out the window at the scenery, and I see this big geodesic dome on top of a hill. I reckon it's gotta be some kind of telescope or signal relay station, and as we get closer, I see more and more on the hills by the coast. Then I start seeing warehouses, transmission towers, radio towers, outhouse, even bunkers!

I didn't know it at the time, but it turns out that the railway passes through Vandenberg Air Base, which is where the government (and its contractors) launch their satellites. some of structures I was seeing were full-blown rocket launch towers. So that was awesome.

This afternoon, I arrived in San Luis Obispo - an old Spanish town near the coast, about halfway between LA and SF. When I decided I wanted to stop on the way up to San Francisco, I looked into things to do in the area. And I found a mountain. So I decided I would climb it.

In fact, there are what they call the 7 sisters in the area, old volcanic formations in a long chain projecting inland South-East from the sea. directly above the town, however, about 300 metres high, is Cerro San Luis. So I came into town with a mission - to climb up this hill.
So I arrived in town, dropped off my stuff at the hostel (couldn't check in until 4:30), and began preparing myself. I got supplies (lots of water, a sandwich) and bought some shorts (I've been needing these for the last few days, and I didn't want to go hiking in jeans or my heavy cargoes), then went back to the hostel, checked in and slathered myself with sunscreen and was off.


Unfortunately, it didn't go entirely smoothly - I got a bus across town, but came upon a seemingly impassable obstacle - the National 110 Freeway. I walked and walked and walked and was beginning to wonder if I would even reach the bottom of the mountain before it got too dark. But all of a sudden, I found an underpass, and was on my way. I found the steep, steep trail to the top (popular with mountain bikers, apparently), and made my assault on the summit. Now, all of this may sound terribly melodramatic, but this was a battle of wills - me against the mountain. And I won!


I summited the peak, took in the amazing views, and felt the need to show my disrespect for the mountain by shaking my fist at it.



Tomorrow, I'm finally heading up to San Francisco - very much looking forward to that.

All the best, talk soon.
Jono.

PS. Pictures from today are now up

PPS. One extra special photo, just for Adel. Hope you appreciate that I came all the way out here just to get you this picture, mate.