Lighthouse Ahoy

We’ve wanted to tour the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse for years, 

but we were always in the area on the wrong day or they weren’t doing tours or whatever.  

 Waiting for our tour guide on a cliff where we could hear but not see elephant seals below.

But this trip, I found their website, made reservations ($35 for 5 of us) 

 Elephant seals bobbing in the water. So fun to watch.

and we joined the caravan from a (abandoned?) motel about a mile north of the lighthouse, 

Elephant seals on the beach

through the previously always locked entrance gate 

and finally! onto the property.  

  View from sea-ward

So cool.

The docent-led tour was about 30 minutes, then we were free to wander the property. 

Piedras Blancas (White Rock) Lighthouse was built in 1874, automated in 1975 and is still a fully functioning light station. 

The gift shop was well stocked to add to our stuffie collection

A strong earthquake in 1948 damaged the top 3 floors, which were removed in 1949 

and the Fresnel lens moved to Cambria, where it’s still on display. 

They are hoping to replace those 3 floors someday (when they find a spare $18 mil or so).

 

The walls at the base are about 5’ thick,

 there’s approx. 300,000 bricks in the tower 

and 100 stairs from the base to the top.

 Fuel oil bunker 

Fun fact: 

 Recently restored fog signal building

the entire property had been planted decades ago in non-native ice plant - nothing local will eat it and native plants can’t grow through it. 

After BLM took over in 2001, it was all removed by volunteers **BY HAND**. Native plant seeds were still there and have flourished. It’s beautiful.

Also, the Spanish named this area “Piedras Blancas” - White Rock - when they charted the coast in the 1600’s, so apparently that rock has been guano encrusted for a looooooonnggg time. 😂

A few wildflowers: