Lime Kiln State Park

Lime Kiln Creek flowing into the ocean

Hills behind the park

OK – we arrived at Lime Kiln State Park almost a month ago and now I am finally posting about it.  I admit I have been slow, but I have reasons – yes real reasons!  When we arranged to campground host here, we knew that cell phone reception would be nonexistent, but we were promised a telephone line.  But by the time we got here, the ranger who arranged our volunteer positions was gone, the park was closed and we were on our own.   We moved into the host campsite, and then tried to connect our phone.  And we heard nothing on the other end.  Two days later a ranger helped us and he heard nothing.  We contacted AT & T and an employee came to the park with his truck, checked the lines and told us that the main line had been cut by a road construction crew a mile north and that it would take a week or two to repair.  Then we heard as much from AT & T as we heard in the telephone – aka, nothing.  Three weeks later, AT & T employees and their trucks were stopped at a store two miles north where we can make emergency telephone calls.  The clerk reminded them that we hadn’t had service all month.  So they came to the park, checked the lines and said that the problem was with the line in the road construction location.  They said it would be another week or two before it is repaired.  And we have heard nothing more.  We use phone connection to get internet, so the only way we have been able to connect in February, has been to drive 5 miles north to a pull off on the highway that locals call “cell phone point”.  The good news is that I often see gray whales feeding from the point.

The day after we arrived, two park staff came to train us on running the generator system and the water system.  They also handed us a poster of a man which told us to call police if we saw him.  The next day we saw him. He walked into the park asking to take a shower, even though the park was still closed.  We didn’t yet know about cell phone point.  We did know that we had no phone, so we drove 35 miles to the ranger office to make a report.  We reported, and were also provided with a radio for emergencies.  We also learned that a park aide had just been hired to join us in two days, which was wonderful news.  We haven’t seen the poster man again.  We have settled into a regular routine with the aide.  We have many more duties than we had at Saddleback Butte, but we still have lots of time to enjoy the park and the surrounding area.  We reopened the park for President’s Day weekend, and were completely full.  It had never crossed my mind that in warmer climates people would consider a weekend in February as a good camping opportunity.

The park is stunningly beautiful.  We have a beach with a stream running into the ocean.   One cliff has a very clear face in it.  One ranger’s spouse has called it Bob Hope.  I see more of a dog in the rocks.  What do you see?  The surf is very powerful here and I would be afraid to swim here.  We are in a canyon that follows the stream up to a waterfall and to 4 old lime kilns built in the 1880s to process lime out of the rock.  When we go to bed, we hear the surf and the stream running by.  We are surrounded by coastal redwoods and see whales, sea otters,  dolphins, elephant seals, golden eagles, California condors and beautiful scenery everywhere. 

Whale watchers.

Pussy willows

Yucca plants

Yucca, yucca!

Lime Kiln State Park is very remote.  The closest real grocery is 40 miles away in Cambria.  The road is very curvy and follows the coast from high up on cliffs.  You cannot drive it fast or while daydreaming about other things.  You do not want to miss the corners.  It is constantly plagued with rock slides.  And it is one of the most scenic drives I have every experienced!  It should be on everybody’s bucket list!

Path to the falls and kilns

 In the 1880s four big kilns were built here to process lime out of the cliffs.  A trail from camp leads to the still existing kilns 1/2 mile from camp.  During the few years that they were operational, 3000 barrels were moved by a pulley system from the top of the man rock to ships off shore that then transported the lime to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Can you see a dog in the rocks?

Vanna of the kilns

Redwood growing out of the top of a kiln

Shamrocks cover the forest floor

The banana slugs here are very bright yellow!

Even the spiders are pretty.

Peeker!

Lots of trilliums are blooming.

Vanna of the waterfall.

 

I love it here and feel so privileged to have this experience.  So you can imagine my utter exasperation when I learned that Lime Kiln State Park is on the list of 70 parks that California will close July 1, 2012 in order to help balance the budget.  I could go on and on about how wrong I think this decision is, but I will spare you.  Just get here soon if you can!

This redwood is huge!

This redwood burl is big enough to hold the glass top for a table that fills the dining room, living room, bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms!

Top of the falls

Lower portion of the falls

 The waterfalls are about 3/4 of a mile hike from camp.  They are over 100 feet tall and are really quite beautiful.

 The park suffered through a forest fire in 2008, and is recovering beautifully.  Fire fighters thought that they had put it out and left, only to have the fire reignite and spread over a large area.

I will post more about the surrounding areas soon, I promise, but I must now leave cell phone point and drive back to camp.  Tootle loo!