RLG

Not too familiar with the SLO area, but S4avantdt - do you think he might like starting on Sycamore and branching off up Serrano Canyon toward Boney Mountain instead, peeling off to the right at the first meadow? Sounds like you're familiar with the area - know the spot? What do you think?

Camping in the tall spring grass by the creek is epic, and, at the risk of revealing too much, you can do "whatever" you want, any time of the day or night, and no one will see a thing (wink wink). I take my wife there each spring after the good rains, and the grasses are tall and lush as hell. You can set up and do a day hike up to Boney, passing split rock, and head back down in the afternoon for strawberries and wine. The hike in is nothing, so you can pack a good amount of gourmet gear (my usual is Omaha Steaks Filet Mignon (since they are vaccum sealed), some asparagus, garlic mashers with gravy, fresh french bread, BUTTER, lots of wine and chocolate, and good fruit, eggs, bacon and hashers for breakfast, music ala MP3 player with portable speaks).

Not sure what you're going for, and I'm sure you can keep it way simple and still have fun, too. After being with my wife for 15 years, I basically have to trick it out of her, hence the bells and whistles. Whatever works, right?

Anyhow, it's not north park matterhorn canyon, but as far as local spots go, it's one of my favorites, and is both easily accessible and relatively secluded. Again, not on the beach, but it is still purty, and you'll still get your rocks off.

Let me know if you want maps or need to borrow any gear...

C.

P.S. No campfires. Bummer. Here's some pics - I'm not a great nature photographer, so, whatever...

Some flowers along the way:
<img src="http://audifahrer.com/aw/hiking/serrano/01.jpg" border="2">

walking back from the southeast side:
<img src="http://audifahrer.com/aw/hiking/serrano/05.jpg" border="2">

View from my favorite spot to set up:
<img src="http://audifahrer.com/aw/hiking/serrano/02.jpg" border="2">

Chilling:
<img src="http://audifahrer.com/aw/hiking/serrano/03.jpg" border="2">

Day hike potential:
<img src="http://audifahrer.com/aw/hiking/serrano/04.jpg" border="2">

bla4ck

that and you'd probably get more power too! all this downtime sounds like a big inconvenience to me and besides, jeff moss @ torque factory is really a nice guy.

i'm sure he would have taken cared of you, especially now that you're an SCC Audi board member

<img src="http://www.iokepa.com/a4/giacflashloader.jpg">

Furtrader

Go to catalina...

autibahn

I've seen that on my way in, is it a good spot?

RLG

This is all an experiment, and it's ongoing. Just curoius to see how the O.CT can perform.

Anyhow, not a big deal... car is plenty fast as is for a slow poke like me. Any extra power is just icing on the cake...

s4avantdt

i have to camping soon too. Sycamore is ez for me. I am familiar with the area. all the rain has reaked havoc on the trails. Perhaps we should meet and maybe do a quick camp with the girls.....just a thought. Gotta do it before the summer.

or, we can get a camp ground as a base camp and you can do your secret spot.....so if we want a fire we can have it......

thougts

Orangeblood

Hate to burst the bubble but GIAC has little gain on the dyno for 91 octane fuel.

RLG

Biked like a ****** when I lived in Santa Barbara ('92 Cannondale M1000 beast of the east with first generation magnesium RockShox, recently XT'd), but now I get on that Selle Italia Flight saddle and it hurts my ******* like nothing else!

I was actually already out there with the lady about a month ago. You're right though - if you are going to do magu / sycamore, it needs to be soon before it all goes crackle crackle.

I'll be doing more northern california / yosemite / pacific crest trail stuff soon, though, if you're interested. We avg. about 25-30 miles per day fastpacking, heavy on the herbs, light on the conversation, no more than 5 days per trip.

If you're into it, let me know. I'll get in touch with you when it starts getting real (I've still got winter fat I need to lose and some (who'm I kidding, LOTS) conditioning to do).

bla4ck

a B5 S4 running "91 octane" killed a new E55 which has 469hp.<ul><li><a href="http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=e55=lunch_Large">for your viewing pleasure (click me)</a></li></ul>

Skydive@AI

There's no GIAC in that mix. Furthermore, I doubt very much there was any 91 in that mix either.