The maximum stay for a Volunteer Camp Host in California parks is six months, and my six months at El Capitan State Beach were up on November 1. (Can you believe it? Time is flying!) There was a two-month opening at Gaviota State Beach just 14 miles up Highway 101, and I jumped at the opportunity.

Gaviota State Beach is part of Gaviota State Park, which encompasses over 2,000 acres and includes wind caves and hot springs. The prominent features of the small beach (especially when the tide is in) are a train trestle that has been there since 1900,

and a pier with a boat hoist, which was damaged in a storm years ago, but slated for repairs. Here is a video of the collapse in 2014. I recommend you watch it with the sound off so you don’t have to listen to the moron cheering like it’s a good thing. Lots of pelicans will be very disappointed when it reopens!

I was not aware of this movie until I was at Gav and a surfer told me about it – “Big Wednesday” was partially filmed at Gaviota in 1978 and stars William Katz, Jan Michael Vincent, and Gary Busey. What a time capsule piece, and all three actors did a lot of their own surfing. I highly recommend it. If you are already familiar with it, Bear’s surf shop was located at the end of Gaviota Pier.

The famous Gaviota Pass Tunnel on Highway 101 is just outside the campground’s entrance. In “The Graduate,” when Benjamin rushes from San Francisco to Santa Barbara to stop Elaine’s wedding, he drives through the tunnel to get there.

The only problem is, the Gaviota Pass Tunnel is on northbound 101. There’s a little piece of movie nerd trivia for ya.

That scene was re-shot almost frame-for-frame in “Wayne’s World 2.”

In “Sideways” Miles and Jack also pass through Gaviota Tunnel on the way to their week of golf and wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley,

and they went to Gaviota Beach as well.

The winds howl down the canyon straight to Gav at any time of the year, but it is particularly windy at Gaviota in wintertime. A lifeguard asked if I tended to get seasick. When I answered yes with trepidation, he explained that camp hosts sometimes complained of feeling nauseated in their rigs due to wind at Gav. Needless to say, I had zero outside setup at my campsite.

Because of those windy conditions, and the risk of evacuation due to flooding with the rains that come in winter time (more on that in a little bit), Gaviota State Beach Campground is closed for camping from November 1 to April 1. That’s right, folks. I spent two months at a beach campground with no campers.

Now, before you get to hating on me too much, I did have duties related to the day use side of the park. I unlocked the gate and the day use bathrooms at 7 AM each morning, staffed the kiosk if no park aide was on duty on busy days, patrolled the parking lot in a golf cart on other days confirming proof of parking payment, picked up garbage, and shoo’ed everyone out and locked the bathrooms and gate every night at sunset.

Given the amount of available down time and the park’s remote location, I had the time to re-write a large part of my first novel in the two months I was at Gaviota, writing at the dinette table and looking out on the trestle to make sure no one was walking up there.

The bullhorn hung by the door, at the ready. On more than a handful of occasions, I had to tell people that the tracks were active, the train could be coming from either direction, and the Ranger had been notified. Oh, and get the hell down from there.

Idjits.

On Thanksgiving fellow camp host Mary from Refugio State Beach came over for dinner,

and Margaret from Vancouver, Washington stopped by in her van for a week around Christmastime.

But right before Margaret’s visit, I was evacuated again, this time due to the potential for flooding and mudslides so soon after the Alisal Fire. 

Even though almost EIGHT INCHES fell in the pass, the hillsides held, and I was back at Gaviota in less than 24 hours.

By New Year’s Eve, Marsha from Seattle was down for a visit. More on that in the next post!

I returned to El Cap on January 2, 2022 for three months, and then I’ll be gallivanting around the US for another three months after that.