Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument and Mansion

William Randolph Hearst, publishing tycoon,  was a hoarder but instead of hoarding miscellaneous trash and flea market finds, he hoarded European antiques and entire rooms from estates and castles. All of this was stored in two huge New York warehouses and several smaller ones. The largest warehouse, in the Bronx, was five stores and spanned five square blocks. 

Many of his treasures found a home in his sprawling mansion over looking the ocean on a hill above San Simeon, California. For over 20 years Hearst collaborated with Julia Morgan, the first female architect licensed in California and a pioneer in the use reinforced concrete as a building material, to create the 115-room mansion. 

Hearst fell deeply in debt during the 1930s due to overextending his credit to buy newspaper outlets, magazines, and radio stations and more antiques. His treasures had to go! Over 15,000 pieces were put on display on the fifth floor of Gimbles in New York - tapestries, silverware, Egyptian antiques, pottery, china, terra-cotta, Roman objects, guns, frescoes, swords, jewelry, rugs, flags, and more.

Fortunately most of the items sold were the extras stored in the warehouses and his mansion is still an example of the excesses that are possible with extreme wealth. Five tours were listed on the website when we visited but all of them except for the Accessibly Designed Grand Rooms Tour have hundreds of steps. The Accessibility Tour is almost the same as the Grand Rooms Tour but goes in a round about way that skips the stairs. It also skips the gardens. We did get to go through the kitchen which isn't part of the Grand Rooms Tour.

Shuttles take visitors from the parking lot up the hill to the mansion. The shuttles can accommodate two wheelchairs. Visitors who need to use a wheelchair must fill that information in on the form when reserving their tickets. Because of the limited wheelchair spaces, the tour groups may be small. Our tour only had two people besides us so we had an almost private tour. 

Both the bus drivers and our tour guide were very nice and accommodating. The road going up the hill is twisty but the tie downs kept my wheelchair secure. After departing the bus we boarded an electric cart to travel from one accessible entrance to another. The tour through the rooms of the mansion is accessible. 

The visitor center located at the parking lot has a small museum that doesn't require a ticket to visit. The museum is accessible. There's also a theater that shows “Hearst Castle – Building the Dream.”  A tour ticket is required to enter the theater. The accessible seats are in the top tier and the view is good.

The parking lot has long spaces for RVs.  Mansion  35.64891, -121.18458

 

Moonstone Beach Boardwalk

 This is a great boardwalk - two miles out and back with ocean views, lots of flowers, birds on the shore, and, maybe if you're lucky, whales and dolphins out in the sea. We didn't see any but we enjoyed everything else about the walk.

The boardwalk is in good condition with multiple accessible entrances from the parking lots and parking along the street. It has a few slight grades but is mostly level. The last section, south of the Santa Rosa Creek parking lot, is a little overgrown and the boardwalk is rougher. 

 

We parked in the lot at  Leffingwell Landing Park and walked/rolled over the bridge to get to the north end of the boardwalk. Leffingwell Landing lot is large enough for any vehicle. Long vehicles can also be parked along the street. Boardwalk  35.58187, -121.12015

 

 

Hearst San Simeon State Park Washburn Campground

San Simeon State Park has two campgrounds, Creek and Washburn. Creek Campground, with sites nestled in the trees and shrubbery, has restrooms and showers plus a dump station. Washburn Campground is located on a knoll and the sites are more open and sunny. The showers and dump station are shared by both campgrounds. 

We camped in site 266 in Washburn. We did not check out the accessible sites. Most of the other sites are narrow but usable.   Campground   35.59527, -121.11017

 

Morro Bay Maritime Museum

The small museum building houses exhibits on Morro Bay's commercial and sport fishing industries, the abalone diving industry, and a Native American tule boat replica. Several boats and other water craft on the grounds outside. A couple of the boats have steps to the boat decks so visitors can get a closer look.

                   The museum and grounds are accessible. The boat decks are not. 

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle.  Museum 35.37038, -120.85546

Tidelands Trail

 Officially the trail is only 1/2 mile out and back but you can extend the walk by following the sidewalk and decks behind the shops and restaurants.  Tidelands Playground at the south end of the trail is nautical themed with  a pirate ship and sea creatures. Don't miss the mosaic octopus on the downtown waterfront. 

The trail, sidewalk, and decks are accessible. 

The parking lot at the south end of the trail is large enough for any vehicle. Free parking is available on  Embarcadero Street.   Trail  35.35824, -120.85092

 

El Moro Elfin Forest

A boardwalk trail makes a one mile loop as it travels over ancient sand dunes and through 90 acres of sensitive habitat that protects 200 species of plants, 110 different birds, 22 kinds of mammals, and 13 species of reptiles and amphibians. Live oaks, between 200 and 400 years old, are twisted and stunted by the salt spray, and constant winds. 

Siena's View spurs leads to a beautiful view of the Moro Bay estuary. 

A few interpretive signs give details about the Native Americans who lived in the area. Trail guides are available at the trail head or download one here: trail guide 

The trail is accessible however there's a very steep section between stop # 15 and stop # 19. Wheelchair users will need assistance. The uphill grades will be longer but less steep if the trail is taken counter clock wise. 

 The boardwalk is accessed by spur trails at the end of neighborhood streets. All are sandy except for the 16th Street spur which is boardwalk. There's an accessible parking space where short RVs will fit. There may be parking spaces for longer RVs along the streets but take care to not block driveways Forest   35.3318, -120.8256

Cerro Alto Campground

The campsites start about 1/2 mile up a one mile, one lane, paved road that branches off of Route 41. Due to the terrain many of the parking pads are pull offs parallel to the road and the campsites are accessed by steps or trails that go up the hill. The day use parking lot and the last four or five campsites are located where the road dead ends. 

The best sites are 8 and 9. Site 8 is a pull-through site with a large, flat living area. Site 9 is fairly private with a small flat living area. Sites 18 and 19 are good too but they share a parking pad and are close together. We reserved one of the last available sites # 21 which has a share parking pad. The picnic table is on slanted ground so the site is not usable for visitors using wheelchairs.

There are several trails that aren't accessible. Watch out for the poison oak which is everywhere, growing as vines, high bushes, and low ground cover.

The road has wide areas to allow passing. Fortunately there isn't a lot of traffic and it makes a nice walking path.  Campground   35.42513, -120.74028