Los Osos and Morro Bay

Yesterday we traveled down to Los Osos and Morro Bay.  While we were in Los Osos we visited the Elfin Forest. This is a 90 acre natural area in the town of Los Osos.  The park has two distinct biomes, the first part was a coastal dune scrub area. This is an area of stabilized dunes low growing shrubs, grasses and wildflowers here we saw west coast silver lupines and california sagebrush.

The second biome area was composed mostly of Pygmy Coast Live oaks. What is interesting about this forest is that elsewhere in the state these trees grow to be about 50 feet tall, but here they only grow to be about 12 feet in height.

The oak trees in this picture are estimated to be about 200 years old. If you look closely at the branches you will see some lacy vegetation hanging down from the branches. This is called Lace Lichen. It is not a plant, but rather fungi and algae. They do not harm the trees, they are helpful to the trees by gathering moisture and nutrients from the air.

We left the Elfin forest and traveled over to Morro Bay to see Moro Rock.

Moro rock is the remains of a dormant volcano. It is on a pennisula jutting out into the harbour. It is about 570 feet tall and is visible for miles. See if you can find it in Google Earth, it is located at: 35° 22′ 9″ N, 120° 52′ 2″ W. Here is another closer picture of Morro Rock: