The Wine Country Run in Paso Robles is a great race course! It winds through Central California's…read morebeautiful vineyards. I did my first half marathon ever here in 2009 and loved it (er...I loved finishing)! PROs: 1. Plenty of parking 2. Well organized. They have those little electric chips that attach to your shoes for accurate timing. 3. TONS of water and energy drink stands throughout the race 4. Great scenery 5. Plenty of bathrooms for those who get there early enough (will explain in Cons) 6. Plenty of water at the end of race 7. No rules about head sets. 8. Tons of participants so you'll never be alone on the course. 9. Photographers throughout the race so you can purchase pics later on if they are good (mine weren't). 10. Everyone is supportive and friendly at the finish line! CONs: 1. Long lines for bathrooms MINUTES before the races starts. Get there early because you WILL have to go. 2. Extremely steep (but short) hill right before the finish line. 3. The course is on a road so, at times, there are cars that you need to move aside for (on the brighter side, they distract you from the pain in your legs =D) 4. Takes a bit of time to drive into the parking lot due to the skinny road.

This year was my second time participating in this race. Last year I participated in the half…read moremarathon and this year I chose to be a participant in the 5K. Last year was a little a hectic since it started and ended at a local park and those logistics made it a little difficult This year, however, they held it at the CaliPaso winery. The atmosphere was fantastic this year because there was more than enough parking and it was spread out enough so that I did not feel like I was cramped. The course for the 5K was beautiful and I loved how it went through some vineyards. I also liked how we weren't too far into the city or busy streets. It was also nice to see the medals were in better shape, since my medal for the half from last year was falling apart right when we got it. We will definitely be back next year for it and I will be doing the 5K since I loved the course and the environment of that race!

Such an amazing experience! Phoebe and her crew are so kind and so knowledgeable about ballooning…read morethat it made having to be up at 4 AM totally worth it!

Wow! Thank you so much Phoebe, Cameron and Dan!!! Such a cool, inviting team. My fiancé, 10 year…read moreold son and I had our first hot air balloon ride and it couldn't have been better. I was nervous, but the whole team was great. Phoebe did a great job explaining expectations which really helped to ease my nerves. The flight was seamless, beautiful sunrise views of Paso. Cameron, our pilot was experienced and a lot of fun. He had a lot to point out and involved my son in so much of the flight. Dan and Phoebe also took some incredible photos and videos of our flight and entire experience which was such a nice touch! Thank you again!!! I highly recommend Balloons over Paso!

This is a nice quick walk off of Hwy 1 with a lot of roadside parking available. It's a nice quiet…read morewalk since the highway has very few cars and there's thick vegetation around. My complaint with this waterfall is that we couldn't figure out how to get to it! The signage is bad and they need to point you in the right direction more. We were prepared to climb some rocks, as we'd heard that you have to to get to the falls, but when we couldn't figure out which rocks to climb, we just turned around. We were able to see the waterfall from a distance and heard people splashing around. Definitely not a trail to walk when muddy and definitely be prepared to climb a lot of boulders to get to the waterfall.

June 2025 As a city person, this is not a "normal easy…read moretrail" Fair warning, the trail is everywhere, no signs or one real pathway to the fall I'm not a hiker and end up turning back because I didn't think I can hope over wet boulders and climb pass a ledge to reach the waterfalls I'm sure it was worth it, I hear others swimming and having fun but I'm too old for that trail I hope you guys give this a try but be careful

Love this place. Got married there. And my student went for their 4 th grade field trip. Great…read morepeople, great information. Great atmosphere. Over great

What an Incredible experience. The tour of the ranch and a ride in the stage are highlights of any…read moretrip to Paso Robles.The rahcn has a collection of horse drawn coaches and buggies that is outstanding. All are hig quality and all are functional. The wagons are used in movies, weddings and other special evemts and it is easy to see wht. Tom Harris lives the old west and his knowledge isextensive. The tour is a real eye opening experience to early California. The historic bar and pipe organ are fun and of course the Sttab ride, and stories about the history of stages in California are real eye openers. The tour and stage ride are woderful. A must do event!

What an amazing hidden treasure. Hard to find and if you know you know. Not easy to find no markers…read moreits about 800 feet south of sand dollar beach. Hike through some poison ivy into a cool meadow over looking the beautiful cove. Now finding your way down is no joke adventurous people only. Need to find the cliff with the ropes and hold on tight as you cascade the cliff. Once at the bottom you feel amazing like you conquered a hidden secret Now climbing back up I thought would be tough however climbing back up is much easier than going down. This is not for the weak but totally worth it. Highly recommend. Jade well thats the color of the water and if thats what you're searching for I suggest diving for it.

Fun, but getting there can be tricky. I used the AllTrails app to find Jade Cove. I then opened up…read morethe Jade Cove map and looked for the blue dot (my car) going along highway 1. I pulled over at the trail marker.. It worked perfectly. The best part of this experience was the short but precarious hike down to the cove. You'll be required to use a rope to hike down to the beach and back up again. The rope is a permanent fixture. Kids seven and over could do it without any assistance. When at the beach you'll see a lot of green rocks, mostly serpentine. The rule is that you can take anything you like as long as the "tide" ocean is able to touch it. The tidal range goes all the way to the cliffside. - There is no highway sign for jade cove anymore. That was taken down many years ago. - Check the tides and try to come here at low tide. - If you can, when you're at the bottom of the rope hike southward to the next cove. Better rocks over there.

Terrible experience going to this campground. I booked this site a month in advance. I ended up…read morechanging my camp site to a site deeper into the loop which I was charged additionally for. Upon arriving (after 5 hours and 300 miles of travel) I discover my campground is closed off. All surrounding campgrounds are either closed off due to "hazardous tree" or "reserved". So I was at a loss, no reception, no one there, no note left behind for my reservation that is unavailable. So I set up shop at site 14 and hope whoever shows up will share the campsite. Now I'm setting up my tent and I'm literally being swarmed by black gnats. Idk what they are because my citronella candle and dousing of mosquito spray is not working, not at all. After 3 hours of sitting like a duck and not seeing a single other person arrive to this campsite, I figured I couldn't stay alone in this abandoned campground. Over 22 sites here and only myself and a couple in site 1 which is upfront of the entrance were there. However their site shows most of the sites reserved. Unsure why people would choose to visit this campground besides its remoteness. Personally I can't say I recommend this place especially if you're traveling from some ways away. This is why I wrote Thai review. Unfortunately I couldn't in their website and I did not want someone else to have the experience I had.

I absolutely love Ponderosa Campground. There are no running water facilities, meaning no showers…read moreand just pit toilets. We got any water we needed that we did not carry with us from the spigots placed throughout the campground. One of my friends and I came here as part of a California Road Trip in mid-July 2018 (we were living in East Bay at the time - both of us in Albany) and this was our last campground before returning to the Bay Area. We had found most campgrounds were full up, but managed to find Ponderosa Campground with open spots online before making our way here by car. The drive in from the Southeast was through heathland with areas that had experienced burns/fires in the not too distant past. We also drove through Fort Hunter-Liggett, which we did not learn until driving through was in active use by the military. I even had to pull my tiny 2010 Toyota Corolla off to the side of the road to let the military vehicles, including tanks, drive past going the other direction. Careful to not pull off too far or get out of one's car and walk around if you need to pass through there, there were explosives in the ground... literally... We returned to the Fort area briefly after checking in to our campsite to contact our family/friends and let them know we were safe. At the campground itself we did not have cell phone reception and there were zero campground lights. Perfect for if you want to watch the stars at night. Just be careful and don't spook those mountain lions (also called cougars or pumas) into following you when you go to use the pit toilets at night. I found them to be quite friendly if treated kindly and not provoked. The campsite we used had a picnic table, parking space, and a fire pit which we couldn't use due to fire danger. Our site was flat, which was perfect for setting up the tent and playing a board game (Trivial Pursuit) by lantern light at night. The trees were tall and magical, as was the heathland outside of the campground on our drive in. Other campers were respectful and not too noisy, we tried to be quiet as well. All around a great stay I would say.

Small beach but lovely and dramatic - tucked away in a little cove in the quaint area of San…read moreSimeon. The tide pools are fantastic - easy to access and there are lots of them! Plus you can walk under San Simeon pier and at sunset, it casts long shadows and makes for some very beautiful photos. The beach sits below some cliffs and is bordered by a small peninsula. The surrounding waters are part of the national marine sanctuary- so the tide pooling is excellent - especially during the king tides in the winter. In the mid 1800s, this area started out as a Portuguese fishing village - but drought forced them to relocate so the surrounding area was bought up by the Hearst family to accompany their castle. Many years later, they gave a lot of the land to the state, but they still own a portion of the beach today - it's their private property but they allow anyone to visit so it's open to the public. You park up on the cliff top or down closer to the beach. In the upper parking lot, there are picnic tables, interesting info signs about the area's history, bathrooms, and a "discovery center". Definitely worth spending some time here if you're in the area - I always make a stop on my visits!

We enjoyed a relaxing day here with our dog. We were able to drive down to the lower beach and park…read morewith a great view of the old pier. There is lots of shade and space to relax and enjoy the sounds of the water. The beach and picnic area were pretty clean and although there were people fishing and BBQing, there was a nice quiet atmosphere. I don't know if it's typical but on our visit there were no screaming children or loud teens posing for the gram. It was a really calm vibe. The restrooms are near the entrance so it's a bit of a trek if you need to go and the portable restroom that was in the area was locked. Still this was better than the other beaches we visited in the area and I would definitely come back.

The first .5 mile has a wooden path but don't try to do the full loop! The trial is quite overgrown…read moreand poison ivy is all along it. There was a small sign that indicated a part of the trail was under maintenance but once on the trail there's little direction other than small signs that tell about the trail. With no warning, suddenly you're in a very overgrown part that continues onto a broken bridge. By the point we got here we assumed we were more than halfway and didn't wanna risk more poison ivy which he had hardly gotten past. I'm glad we chose to continue because after getting past the broken bridge which was blocked off at the end (not the end we had come on) it was open, far less poison ivy and we made it to a road intended for vehicles to grt to the campground I think? It had some beautiful parts but not the sort of thing to bring kids out ages. Very narrow path for most of it!

A nice trail that's part nature walk, part moderate hike. The distance ranges from 3.5 - 3.8 miles…read moreit's a loop trail that goes around Sam Simeon State park/Campground. If you're staying at the camp ground you can easily get to the trail by following the park map. If you're not visiting the campsite there is a pullout area across the campground entrance on the other side near the beach where you can walk the trail under PCH. Coming from the beach trail around the loop you'll get around 450 feet of elevation gain, the trail is pretty simple to follow but if you're looking for direction to follow online there is a map on All Trails under "San Simeon trail to Washburn Campground Loop"