41.5 miles

The day started out with some sightseeing at the Elephant Seal Vista Point. We heard the seals long before we saw them. There were thousands of them laying on the beach. It was funny to watch them wiggle around and then suddenly stop as if winded.

Soon after, things got serious as we entered the hills of Big Sur. We thought we were doing great until several peletons of cyclists zoomed by us in their matching outfits and carbon-fiber bicycles. Turns out there was a double century (200 miles) ride going on that day, which started in Paso Robles. We got lots of encouragement from the cyclists - turns out, we impressed them too, lugging all that gear up those hills.

We were rewarded for all our hard work with a beautiful oceanview campsite at Kirk Creek Campground. We made dinner, watched the sunset and were snuggled in our sleeping bags before 8:30.