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The beach near the town of Pismo Beach is full of contradictions. It is the only beach in California where standard highway vehicles are allowed to drive on the beach (because of the extra fine grain, firm sand), yet it is also the largest over-wintering site of Monarch butterflies in the US (over 100,00 of them), and home to the legendary, tasty and large Pismo clams (they can surpass 8”).

Over 23 miles of sand makes this California’s longest and widest beach. Just south of Pismo State Beach is the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area which allows drive-up on-beach camping. The adjacent sand dunes are quite a draw for OHVers. Not really something I enjoy but I did witness a large, knobby rear wheel fall off a jeep, it just rolled down the road on its own! I found that to be quite interesting. Thankfully they were going slow when it happened. Can you imagine losing a whole tire on the highway?!

The beach near the ODSVRA was shockingly different than the other beaches we’ve visited in California. No shells, few birds, no sunbathers, no families playing and no surfers. Just trucks and dunebuggies whipping up and down the shore. Wandering through the Grand Dune between the beach and our campground, where OHV traffic is not allowed, was more interesting as plants and animals have taken refuge in the protected dunes.

The artificial lagoon at the Oceano campground where we stayed had more life than the beach. A great riparian habitat with native vegetation it provides shelter for many animals, including mountain lions. We saw lots of birds, most of which were domestic escapees. One evening we watched a beaver swim a large branch across the lagoon until he disappeared underwater with it. The lagoon was dug in the 1920s to drain the surrounding marsh for a housing development. A thoughtful citizen donated 5 acres around the lagoon to the state and thus began Pismo State Beach, which opened in 1934.

The Oceano campground has a Nature Center that provides insight into the native people, the Chumash, as well as information about the local plants and animals. The name Chumash is shortened from Michuchumash- those who make shell bead money. They were experts at utilizing local resources especially the shellfish as the very large middens (which now look like dunes) prove. A form of the Chumash word for tar, pismu, gives the area its name.

A special treat was buying fresh picked sun-ripened strawberries from a fruit stand not far from our campsite. Delicious! While we enjoyed our stay at Oceano campground, we’ll stay near the north end of the beach next time.

The people of Pismo Beach must have a sense of humor. Sign seen in Pismo Beach: “Avoidable- what a bullfighter tries to do.” Read it out loud, you’ll get it.

Photos: View the entire set of Pismo Beach photos.

Dates: We stayed in Pismo Beach from July 19-22, 2006.