Beautiful day for a hike on the coast in Big Sur.

I believe it was a late morning hike through meandering, narrow trails on the coast.

The ocean kept it cool, while Walt was in seventh heaven.

We did several hikes over the 3-4 days we were there, and this was one of my favorites.

One thing we were surprised by is that having a dog with you in Big Sur is extremely limiting to the number of hikes available to you.

Most trails do NOT allow dogs, even on leashes.

Ah well, too bad.

Very hard trip, but this hike was a highlight.

During the start of the summer of 2026, we were locked in to a cabin in Big Sur.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I use the word "cabin" lightly.

This was a wooden box with 2 beds.  That's it.

It started as a plan for a real camping trip (in a tent) with the Anderson's and Sarak's, but due to rain and potential land slides in the spring, everyone cancelled, except for us.

Jen wanted to get a cabin, and bump our families trip to the beginning of summer.

Eeesh.

And the plan was to take Walt.

Double "Eeesh".

Well, we did.  It was a dirty, hot, uncomfortable affair with skunks and dirt and stench.

It's one of those trips that sucks while you're going through it, as you're realizing you'll be glad you did it some day.

I was correct on both accounts.

I'll always look back on it fondly.

S'mores every night.

Uncomfortable, but stunningly beautiful hikes along the coast.

The skunks overrunning the campsite at night.

Walt just making things uncomfortable in general.  (He's still a puppy and is into everything so we had to keep him tied up so he couldn't quite make it inside the cabin.

The last hike we took was on a very hot day.  Squeak wasn't feeling great and stayed about halfway up, under a tree, with mom and Walt.

Kalea and I trudged all the way to the top and got a few pictures.

We talked about all kinds of things.  Life in general, relationships, bigotry, among other things.

I love to talk to my girls about a wide variety of things, and I think they feel comfortable with talking about almost anything with me.

Anyway, so glad we powered through this hike.  It flew by due to the great and constant conversation.

And we motored all the way back to the bottom to meet the other 3.

One for the memory banks for all time. I love my family. <3

Big Sur camping was a wee big "uncomfortable" at best.  This was true even though we stayed in a "cabin" (I use that term loosely.).  It was hard with Walt, the skunks, and the dirt and grime. There were some moments though.  One of these was to watch squeak become obsessed with the ffire...

... over to the twigs, throw them into the fire...

... bags... paper... sticks... cardboard... whatever she could find would go in the fire.

Walking around like a dirty little rug rat with that oversized t-shirt dangling off her shoulders.

She looked like a cute little street urchin trying to keep a fire alive for survival on the streets.

It was her little obsession for about an hour, and it was a welcome reprieve from the dirty agony of the trip!