This out-and-back route will take you from Avila Beach through Pismo and Oceano to Oso Flaco Lake, stopping by some significant historic landmarks along the way. You’ll find natural beauty in abundance at the Monarch Butterfly Grove and history in action at the Great American Melodrama. In Pismo, you’ll connect with iconic Highway 1, riding from there to Oso Flaco Lake Road and then on to the lake. Once you reach the lake, you’ll experience the peace and quiet of the smooth waters and stunning view—perhaps while you enjoy a sandwich from J.J.’s Market. This 49-mile ride makes for the perfect day.
Points of Interest
Avila Hot Springs
Monarch Butterfly Grove
Oceano Railroad Depot
The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville
JJ's Market
Monarch Dunes Golf Club
Oso Flaco Lake
J.J.’s Market
This small-town grocery store has a deli with sandwiches, pasta salads, and other great lunch items for on-the-go cyclists, as well as cool beverages to quench your thirst.
Monarch Dunes Golf Club
Monarch Dunes is located along the Central California Coast, just south of San Luis Obispo in Nipomo, CA. Monarch Dunes features two award-winning golf courses. The first 18-hole championship “Old Course” as well as the acclaimed 12-hole, Par-3 Challenge Course, both designed by architect Damian Pascuzzo & PGA Tour Pro Steve Pate. Both courses were uniquely created to test your skills and tempt your senses. Monarch Dunes is part of The Woodlands, a master-planned resort and Trilogy residential community which is surrounded by windswept dunes, eucalyptus trees, coastal vistas and amber-colored hillsides. Stop to play a few holes or have a bite at the Butterfly Grille.
Oso Flaco Lake
Oso Flaco Lake appears through the trees on the left as you approach the start of the boardwalk on Oso Flaco Lake Trail. Admire the view over a smaller branch of the lake on the right before turning left to walk out on a boardwalk over the lake. Oso Flaco Lake is a shallow, freshwater lake that covers 75 acres. This rare coastal lake is a refuge for both local and migrating birds. Walk out on the boardwalk, which pushes out over the lake and curves to the right, passing benches and a broad view south. Algae make interesting patterns in the water in front of the boardwalk. Ducks and swans drift across the calm water. Beyond the lake, you’ll see sand-covered hills rising above the surrounding brush. Tules and cattails line the calm waters.
Avila Hot Springs
The springs were discovered in 1907 by unlucky oil drillers and established by the Budan family as a popular visitor-serving natural artesian mineral hot springs oasis at the gateway to Avila Beach and Port-San Luis Harbor. Historic Avila Hot Springs offers today’s visitors cabin camping and dry tent camping, all just 2 miles from the beaches and next to the Bob Jones Bike Trail. All year long, Avila’s protected southerly location offers some of the best weather on the Central Coast.
Monarch Butterfly Grove
The Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove is one of only five sites in the state that has counts of over 10,000 butterflies annually. Each year, thousands of vibrant orange and black monarch butterflies flock to Pismo State Beach, a location essential to their successful migration, seeking shelter from the freezing northern winters. From late October to February, the butterflies cluster in the limbs of towering, majestic eucalyptus trees flanking a riparian estuary that flows to the Pacific Ocean. The grove is easily accessible from Highway 1 at the south boundary of the city limits of Pismo Beach.
Oceano Railroad Depot
This Southern Pacific Railroad Station was the center of the most of the commercial and transportation activities in south San Luis Obispo County from 1904 until the 1950s. Retired from service in 1973, it has been moved 400 yards north of the original site and is being restored by volunteer efforts for its new role as a community center.
The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville
The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville is fun for the whole family! They produce top-notch musicals, comedies, and classic melodramas in a lively cabaret setting at affordable prices. And every show is followed by a vaudeville revue full of song, dance, and comedy. You get two shows for the price of one!