Oso Flaco

Today T and I went to Oso Flaco. We haven't been there since the winter. There is a long boardwalk that crosses a lake to reach the ocean. The beach is probably less than a mile from where we walk on the beach in Oceano but it's 10 miles by car! Cars are not allowed on the beach here but you can easily walk from Oceano to Oso Flaco. There is a large section fenced off to protect nesting plovers and terns. Here's one version of why Oso Flaco "skinny bear":

"Why 'Skinny Bear' lake?
The lake has been called Oso Flaco - which means 'skinny bear' eversince 1769 when Portola's expedition passed through. The reason for this can be attributed to a fateful meal shared by the explorers. The group saw, shot and subsequent ate, a skinny bear they had seen on the shores of the lake. When the men awoke in the morning - two of them didn't, they were dead! The tale's bizarre ending seems to have been a result of the Chumash who had adopted a clever way of dealing with rogue wildlife. Their practice was to hang tainted meat which when consumed would cause the animals to sicken enough for them to be unable to hunt. With the inabilty to feed came the inevitable wasting that would have led to our 'skinny bear'. It would appear though that the bear's flesh had enough residual toxins to have also dispatched our ill fated explorers to a quicker demise."