morro bay ,ca

[Detector Man]

In Morro Bay there are two landmarks...one is Morro Rock and the other are the power plant chimneys.
Morro Rock is a protected landmark...no climbing etc and it is 587 ft high..Morro Bay chimneys are 450ft (had to look it up) ...frankly i thought they didnt use them any more since i never seen smoke but on the way home i did see smoke coming out ...they generate electricity for the area....You may have heard of Diablo Canyon...it is a nuclear power plant a short distance down the road...

That town is probably supported by residents from our area who go there during hot summers months to get away from the heat or on family vacation

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

You say it is protected, no climbing or messing with it. Do you know what history would be associated with it. As always, these are some good pictures. Thanks for sharing, Kelley (Texas)

 

[Detector Man]

Thanks Kelly......
i dont know much about it other than you can see it from 10 miles down the coast.....check my other picture out....and in looking at the old pictures i learned that this one family claims to have it climbed in 1938 !!!! there was another picture that showed people in the early 1900 picnicking/camping and they claim that it took 4 days to get there by horse and buggy where it now takes 2-3 hours from Bakersfield,CA....and they stayed weeks hunting and fishing....
and here is a link about the chimneys and how they came about etc...

http://www.heritageshared.org/docs/hey/powerplant.html

about Morro Rock
http://www.slostateparks.com/morro_rock/default.asp

One thing that (to me) ive learned quickly is that the water is very chilly ...kids that play with boogie boards or surf in the water all wear a wet suit type of gear to stay warm....its usually foggy in the mornings and it clears up around noon like clockwork...this picture was taken on our way home...fog on the rock is from the half waypoint UPwards..
As expected real estate is super expensive and not easy to build from scratch....lots of issues but primarily its a water issue..all kinds of hooops to go through....

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

The pictures of the Morro Rock makes it look like it is an island, but the link you provided showed it to be part of a park. Is it an island or is it located on some land that extends out into the ocean?

The smoke stack link was easy to understand, and that power plant is larger that one would first think. Why is the water colder there? Kelley (Texas)

 

[Detector Man]

you gave me a GREAT way to explain Morro Rock....it is a strip of land that extends from Morro Bay near the chimneys towards the ocean....one can drive and park a car right next to morro rock...ijn fact on one side is a beach with the road i described and on the other side is a huge parking lot where there is also a huge beach where surfers do their thing and kids play in the water etc...
Yes the water is very cold...why? i would think its due to the location (north)....when i didnt know better (read YOUNGER) i spent lot of time north of the area (Santa Cruz) and my feet were numb after a while

The front of the power plant is all ive seen from the road....I dont want to overwhelm our site with pictures but i have pictures of a rescue submarine parked out near the power plant....pictures tomorrow....they call it a Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle....weird name i know ....

 

[Roscue2]

Looks like it would be a very tiring climb to the top.

 

[Detector Man]

The pictures i posted make it look like its an island....the chimneys are about 100-200ft from the ocean...behind it and to either side is land....between the power plant and the rock is a road located at the edge of the water on one side is the ocean and the other side its all land...to the west of therock is the ocean (to the left of the rock) ...to the right of the rock is mainly water and the "mainland"....dont know if i have explained myself clear enough...suffice to say that morro rock is not an island...barring some geological catastrophe it will remain a rock accessible by a road...and to be clear when i say road i dont mean a road like in Florida where they have a road on a a long bridge going from island to island (Key West?)