20150301
After a hike to Black Point, I decided to investigate Point Blanco. It had been a while since my last visit and I wanted to investigate the camp ground and any beach access.
The camp ground is quite nice. It is a the high point of the peninsula and very protected, yet, close to the south bank of the point.
To my surprise, there is a single line, narrow road leading down to beach access. There are two, very small parking areas and a jeep trail to the beach itself.
The jeep trail is a short drop off with a very a sharp hairpin turn at the bottom. It is washed out, has some loose spots on the steep and a couple of high clearance humps. I would call this short trail technical but doable in a high clearance vehicle.
I decided to take the Beast on to the beach. Going down was not to bad. First gear and 4 wheel drive, a little bit of brake. I felt the front wheel slip once or twice but managed to get to the bottom and squeeze around the corner through the partially cleared drift wood.
I took a spin north on the beach while on the hard pack sand. Tide was still going out and the seas were calm (by West Coast standards).
Going up was a bit of a challenge. This was the first time I had taken the Beast up a steep loose jeep trail. After bouncing off one of the humps, the left front wheel lost traction and spun nearly stopping my forward (and up) movement. I realized my mistake later. 1) I was not crawling as i should have 2) I was not crawling because I had not put the transfer case into 4L (low gear), I was in 4H. Fortunately there was no damage and I’ll know better next time!.