Moro or Morro?

That is the view from our campsite this weekend -- be sure to click on it for a bigger version. We left Saturday morning for our first time at this new state campground.

This place is so new they were still installing the signs. It used to be a mobile home park but the State evicted the lease holders, cleared the land, restored the habitat and turned it into a very nice terraced campground above Moro Canyon. The spelling of the canyon is with one R in the State Park, but with two outside of the park (including on the back of La Rana).

This is the closest beach camping to our house, just 40 miles of toll road and canyon driving. We made it there quickly, walked down to the beach and then took the local bus into Laguna Beach for the Kelp Fest and Earth Day. Andy's buddy Colt came with us so they had their own agenda as they explored the area.

This camp doesn't allow campfires so when we got back to the site, it was a walk atop the bluffs and a movie before bed. In the morning, we watched dolphin catching breakfast in the kelp beds just offshore, while we ate our breakfast on the bluff. We then headed over to Andy's Footy game before heading home.

Mom's Road Trip

Mom and I made plans for an overnight camp in the local mountains. According to the USFS, there is a contract dispute with the campgrounds that take reservations, but they had several campgrounds with first-come, first-served campsites.

We figured that camping on a Wednesday night we wouldn't have any issues, so we headed out to Applewhite (B) in Lytle Creek: CLOSED. Well, let's head up to Wrightwood and check out the camps up there (C). Table Mountain: CLOSED. Lake Campground: CLOSED. Mountain Oak: CLOSED. A check of the map and we saw there was a couple choices on the East side of the Angeles National Forest. Sycamore Flat (D) was a wide spot on the side of the road with just a dozen sites: Not our style. We pressed on to the Devil's Punchbowl (E): NO CAMPING.

Down but not defeated, we drove across the desert and back down the Cajon Pass to a great campground in our own neighborhood: Rancho Jurupa Regional Park (F). They had a spot for us and we had a perfect trip. I had put the time lapse camera in the back window during our 190 mile trip, so the very short video below shows our road trip adventure.