We really enjoyed this 3.6 mile loop with 80% shade, well maintained trails (one creek crossing…read morebut with easy stepping stones). I appreciated the signage, especially pointing out and explaining the native flora and fauna. It was chilly most of the time this morning (48 degrees) but felt warmer in the sun. I'm sure this is a great little hike in all four seasons! We'll be back someday.

This hike in early April was beautiful, filled with wild flowers. There is a lot of traffic noise…read morefor the first part of the hike, but it gets better as you go up. Speaking of the incline, it meets my standards by starting low and going up fairly gradually. The views are incredible, and the hike back easy. It did feel longer than the posted signs claimed.

Local Eval.: A rather challenging scenic 1.4 hour all downhill hike on historic ole Stagecoach Rd…read more [where Stagecoaches used to run] with some complications. This past Saturday morning we had a hiking mission, to park one car at the bottom of Stagecoach Rd., which is typically deserted [where we also discovered a mysterious dark pedestrian/bike tunnel under the 101], and our other car at the top, of the West side of Cuesta Ridge. While most hike up to TV tower road, we wanted to enjoy only a one way downhill historic route. Most of the dirt road had amazing views, including forrest, trees, mountain streams, flowers, & views of the train tunnels built long ago by Chinese laborers by hand. Almost right as we started, we ran into 2 mountain bikers, & 2 vehicles [e.g. a Jeep] going up the steep grade, and we had a nice long friendly chat with a local biker, & the driver of the Jeep. They both reassured us that the way down was clear & scenic. As we made it about 1/3 of the way down, we realized that we had forgotten the bottom car's keys in the top one. Ugh! What to do? I decided to continue enjoying our trek & hopefully find another way back up as we descended. Not sure if Uber was an option at the edge of SLO. My i-watch claimed that we went 2.5 miles & took about 1.4 hours. Of course we took a few stops to gaze at the views & admire wild flowers, streams, & more. As we reached the bottom of the valley & saw lots of cows, and then some houses, I was hopeful. We then happen to meet some nice people & one kindly offered to drive us back up, the way we came. My honey was quite terrified with passenger side views of the shear drop! Once we drove back to the bottom to rescue our other car, we found 2 friendly police cars were right next to our car & another. The other car may have been speeding [which is quite common & dangerous down the steep grade]? While we were happy to see them, I would imagine that the others were not. Fortunately, both our car & we were intact! What a "historic", thrilling, & yet another, successful scenic local adventure almost in our glorious "backyard"! Near the summit, you will find an plaque dedicated to the engineers that built Cuesta Grade, from the ASCE in 2004. If you do turn off for hiking/biking on Stagecoach Rd., try not to drive up/down Stagecoach Rd.. Not only can you fall off the cliff, but there are falling rocks. It is a wide steep path...but use CAUTION! "Alltrails.com" has info. on these Cuesta Trails & I also posted some pics. In the past, before the ole 101 was build, many a Stagecoach, went flying down this steep grade, since brakes failed. People were advised to walk down, like we did over a hundred years later! The local Tribune Newspaper had a fairly recent article & pics on some of the history. It was: "From stagecoach robberies to railroads, SLO's new train tracks signaled end of an era" by D. Middlecamp on 8/29/19, which went on to say..."About a dozen people pose for a photo with a six-horse stagecoach outside the Ramona Hotel in San Luis Obispo on May 5, 1894... The last stagecoach over the Cuesta Grade departed as the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in town...San Luis Obispo was finally connected to the larger world by rail. The Santa Lucia Range had terminated the line five years earlier in Santa Margarita. The 17 miles of track Southern Pacific built over the Cuesta Grade would be the highest elevation and most expensive 17 miles on the Coast Line between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Estimates vary but the track cost the railroad between $1.5 and $3 million to build. The original tunnels removed 1,100,000 cubic yards of rock from under the Santa Lucia Range. A later expansion removed more rock, making the amount of earth moved similar to the amount removed for the footing of the Hoover Dam. The Sept. 21, 1950, edition of Engineering News-Record called the work "a world's record for hand-drilled tunnels that may well still be unbeaten today."... Freight wagons, which required six or eight horses, could take eight hours to cross the grade with the teamster jamming his foot on the brake on the road down. Old Stage Coach Road was built with Chinese labor and a $20,000 county bond in 1876. It was an improvement over the bottom-of-the-canyon padre's trail between the Mission and Santa Margarita." Read more here: sanluisobispo.com/news/l... There is tons of history surround this, and nearby areas. You may want to Goggle the history of Santa Margarita, Ah Louis & his Chinese cohorts who built the railroad tunnels, SLO Mission, Chumash, Spanish, Pozo,& the first Motel in the USA. Link: http://historic101.com/Cuesta/main.htm While there is the aforementioned plaque, there is now no commemoration of how Chinese immigrants somehow carved the railroad, tunnels, & more [except for the statue honoring the Chinese at SLO's rail station].

From the 101, Cuesta Ridge has two separate trailheads. East Cuesta starts on the east side of 101…read moreand goes east (duh!) while West Cuesta starts at a dirt parking lot on the west side of 101 and goes west (double duh!). We hiked on West Cuesta to the TV towers which equated to 5.5 miles roundtrip with 950' elevation change. The road starts with paved asphalt then turns to dirt. The dirt portion was well maintained with sand and gravel in many sections. The gate to the road was open and we were passed by a dozen pick-up trucks. The traffic noise from the freeway quickly disappeared. The ridge is high enough to see the region (which is why KSBY-TV's tower and satellite dishes are there) including Morro Rock, Atascadero, and SLO. Without blocking trees, continuous views of the landscape occurred. Even with the drought, the vegetation was still green. The Forest Service says a "Botanical Special Interest Area" exists near here which might be why plants still thrived and why we spotted a forest grove with a different color- likely Sargent cypress trees.

Sweet trail on cool sunny morning. Quick and easy maybe moderate for some. Lots of trees and so…read moregreen at this time of the year.

One of my favorite hikes in North County that is dog friendly and has some wonderful views!…read more There are numerous paths you can take if you want a moderate vs hard hike. There is a short uphill part that takes you up the mountain to an obelisk, which is really cool! Especially in late February - April, everything is super green and the weather is just perfect. Since this trail is dog friendly, you will see a ton of dogs around and my three dogs always have a really great time! This trail also has sections that are biker and horse friendly, so keep that in mind if you have dogs or kids. Always look forward to coming back to this trail with my hubby and pups!!

Hi everyone, let me start by saying. Mike and Jennifer are an absolute pleasure to work with. As a…read morebusiness owner myself (SLO Party Bus) I know the importance of customer service and Lake Life 805 hit the hammer right on the nails head. We rented a couple of jet skis from out of town and acquired a cabin at Lake nacimiento resorts for the weekend. However we dropped the ball on renting a boat or pontoon. I searched up boat rentals in my area, and to my surprise there were very few. Lake life 805 answered immediately and was very helpful and reasonable $$ about booking my reservation.. we booked a 10 passenger pontoon which had an amazing sound system, and new limousine style seating arrangements. They emailed over my rental contract, and even offered to have a copy available for my convenience if I did not have a printer. Which was very very helpful in this last minute situation. Upon arrival, everything went very smoothly from beginning to end. Thank you so much for making this weekend amazing. I would definitely be back again *Yelp please do not hide my review, Jennifer and Mike were amazing and our weekend was the best

We rented a pontoon but yesterday. The pontoon boat is top notch. Very spacious and the seating is…read moreso comfortable. Stereo system is awesome and you can pair it with your own music. Craig and Lisa are so nice and went the extra mile. We forgot our floats and he supplied them for us. I would give them 10 stars If I could.

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!

What a great race!! I love when triathalon and other endurance races are combined with camping,…read moremusic, and a weekend of family fun!! I didn't get to bring my boys with me last year but I'll definitely be bringing them in 2026! Already signed up for the 70.3 relay and the sprint tri the following day...and if my 8 year old wants to do the night time 5k, I'm all in!

Wildflower is a triathlon unlike any other…read more I've done spring, olympic, and 70.3 triathlons and I was on the board and President of the SF tri club. We have a deep relationship with Wildflower. We send 100+ people every year for the last 10 years to the race and we also host a training weekend a couple of weekends before the race. The race is hot and hilly for most people. It's not ideal for a first timer but we send our newbies there anyways. You won't find another race where thousands of triathletes will camp at the race and that has the party feel of Wildflower. It's like Woodstock and Burning Man meets a triathlon race. I HIGHLY recommend Wildflower.

If you want to hunt for wild boar, this is the place to hunt! Excellent crew of guides to get you…read morein position to hunt wild Hogs. I went with my hunting friends and we meet our guides Craig, Jos and Robbie who knew where to take us and glass for huge hogs. We spotted several and we got on the hunt early. Definitely exciting to stalk and hunt! My suggestion is bring a good rifle and scope dialed in at 100 yards. You will need a hunting license, pig tag, lead free cooper ammo. They will get you in hunting range to test your skills! This is a great trip and I will comeback again next year! The hogs we harvested taste great cause the boars are wild and organic since they destroy farms all night long. Most hunts are a two day trip if you don't get a pig early so plan to spend the night at a nearby hotel or their onsite cabin. Bring your own drinks and food since no places to eat or drink nearby. Once the hogs are harvested they will quarter and package your meat for you or take it to the nearby butcher to make sausages or cut into pork chops. This is one of the best hog hunting trips I have been to and I would highly recommend the experience.

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!