A Visit to Oso Flaco Preserve on California's Central Coast

On the morning of Wednesday, April 28, 2010, I joined two young Danish travelers in a visit to Oso Flaco, a preserved lake, creek, and beachfront sand-dunes area near the towns of Nipomo and Guadalupe on the Central Coast of California.

We parked the car outside the entrance for free. The walk from the gate to the lake was quiet and tranquil. The shaded path was thick with shrubs and trees that mixed with the early-morning dew to emit an inviting woodsy aroma. Rabbits, from babies to biggies, hopped across the path as if to greet us.

The grizzly bears are long gone. Oso Flaco is Spanish for "Lean Bear," a name given to the area in 1769 by members of a Spanish expedition who killed and ate a grizzly in the local valley when bears were plentiful in California even near the coast.

The narrow but sturdy wooden walking bridge over the middle of the lake had open railing that was high enough for safety but low enough for sightseeing. Even though I felt secure on my little bridge island, I also felt, from my centered, raised position, as if I were part of the rippling lake itself. Swimming ducks and darting, perching birds casually glanced at us as they went about their business.

The lake was thickly rimmed with vegetation, especially long, green, slender reeds. I instantly recalled the book The Wind in the Willows and wondered what kind of ancient tales these Oso Flaco reeds might whisper when the wind whistles through them.

Rising steeply toward the sky on the western edge of the lake were huge rolling sand ridges, whose appearance suddenly transformed the lake in the mind's eye into a desert oasis.

Between the lake and the beach was a lengthy boardwalk (a continuation of the lake bridge) through dense vegetation. Many areas were fenced off to protect plants and animals--forbidden to the feet but fascinating to the eye.

The path ended on a long, low stretch of open beach gradually rising to the sand dunes behind us. Remarkably, despite the harsh beach conditions on plants (salt water, low-nutrient soil, extreme temperatures, wind), these dunes, like many coastal dunes, have abundant, specially adapted vegetation.

The plants, mostly low and matlike to survive the effects of strong coastal winds, have a great impact on the dunes. When the plants take root, they tend to capture windblown sand and thus build into higher and higher green-capped mounds called hummocks. From our distance, the capped hummocks looked like an infinite number of little tents in a vast sand land.

Vegetation can stabilize, and help build up, large areas of sand dunes. However, the system is delicate, and any disturbance, especially off-road vehicles but even foot traffic, can destroy the vegetation in one portion of the environment, causing its windblown sand to redistribute and thereby engulf other areas as well.

We walked southward along the beach--hot, delicate, stationary desert dunes on our left; cool, muscular, hypnotically pounding ocean waves on our right--till we were blocked by a creek flowing from the lake into the Pacific Ocean.

Returning to the car, we drove a few miles south to the little town of Guadalupe and parked on the beach. There we continued our southward hike till we reached a cluster of green, apparently algae-stained, fingers of land jutting out from the shore into the sea. The waves over countless years had carved a staggering variety of little inlets and coves out of the reddish brown sandy cliffs.

From the green fingers, we walked back to the car, now dune-warmed on our right and ocean-cooled on our left.

Even though I had never before visited this area, I felt a strong sense of familiarity. Oso Flaco Lake and the associated flora, fauna, beaches, dunes, and rock formations are our collective "home"--pristine reminders of our origins. The area must continue to be preserved so that future generations can come here for the same kind of humbling visceral experience.