Aweseome!

December 30th: Drive down towards Big Sur from Santa Cruz first having breakfast at Deetjens ( Big Sur Inn). From there we drove down to Plaskett Creek in the Pacific Valley and scored a campsite. There were only two or three left. That night on the 30th it was really cold and we went to bed early. The next day we got up around seven, had breakfast and drove up to the top of Naciemnto-Ferguson Rd. In the past we would drive all the way up to the trailhead for the Cone Peak trailhead but now the road is closed with a locked gate. This actually is good for bicyclists because we can safely travel up the 6 miles without worry of cars or motorcycles.

At first I was wondering if this was such a really good idea riding my unicycle the 6 miles to the trail head which is about 1000 feet of climbing. Cathy rode her bike. The first few miles went well and we made it to the trail head after a little over an hour of riding. It is amazingly scenic and the road is in really good condition. We locked up the bikes stashed a beer in the snow and started hiking to the summit. Then another couple miles hiking to the summit another thousand feet or so. That took about an hour and a half. There was quite a bit of snow on the trail but it was so scenic that we do not care about any extra effort. Made it to the top and found that the lookout tower was iced over on three sides. The fourth side was fortunately out of the wind with no ice and also in the sun. We hung out for about 45 min then did the return hike down. Got to the bike/Uni and had our beer before riding the 6 miles back to the truck - mainly downhill but some little climbs. My legs and body were really worked at the end but I was really happy and so was Cathy. We got back to the campsite around 6:30 PM started a fire and had our dinner. Later that night before midnight I did walk down to the beach playing Jimi Hendrix on my little portable speaker and drinking a beer - a great way to end the year.

The next day we began driving back home and saw some waterspouts from whales so we stopped and watched them for quite some time before heading to point Lobos to do some hiking for an hour or so.

All in all it was a great New Year's Eve with plenty of exercise and Cathy and I being together.