What the Fog Taught Me in Big Sur

On paper, the South Coast overnight is gentle: car camping, a bluff run, some beach rockhounding, a short waterfall hike. That's exactly why I chose it for the first film — I wanted the barrier to entry on the ground floor. What I didn't plan for was the fog doing its own location scouting.

Lesson one: coastal cold is sneakier than mountain cold. The forecast said 61. The fog said otherwise, and by nine I was wearing my entire bag and boiling water mostly to hold the pot. One more insulating layer than the forecast implies — write it down, it's free.

Lesson two: tide tables are itinerary items, not trivia. Jade Cove at a minus tide is a treasure floor. Two hours later the same cove is a wave-swept rock garden with nothing to give. I built the whole morning around low tide and it was the best call of the trip.

Lesson three: poison oak is a skill check. The Salmon Creek trail is lined with it, glossy and confident. Long sleeves, long pants, and a wash-everything policy at the trailhead cost nothing. Learning the leaf costs ten minutes. The alternative costs two weeks.