An Old Ranger’S Memories: Building Montaña De Oro State Park

By Richard McKillop and Sherry McKillop

An Old Rangers Memories: Building Montaa de Oro State Park chronicles the adventures had in taking what used to be a working seaside ranch and transforming it into what would become San Luis Obispo Countys most-beloved state park. From Ranger McKillops first visit, through to the first Labor Day weekend in the almost fully developed park, the reader will experience the tasks, challenges, and accomplishments of those early days.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514425282

Richard McKillop

Richard C. (Dick) McKILLOP (deceased) served in the California State Park service for thirty-one years during a time of change within the system. He began his career as a state park attendant in a dual assignment at Pt. Lobos State Reserve and Los Coaches Rancho Adobe. He retired as a regional interpretive specialist in Monterey, California, before moving to Oregon. The highlight of his career was his time at Montaña de Oro State Park. Sherry McKILLOP is the proud daughter of Ranger Dick McKillop and is an expert in team and leadership development. Her love of the outdoors and wild spaces grew from having grown up living in and around some of the best of California’s state parks. She is an advocate for a balance between personal responsibility and corporate stewardship of the environment. She lives with her husband, Don, in the Sierra Nevada mountains near South Lake Tahoe.

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Copyright © 2015 by Richard C. McKillop and Sherry L. McKillop.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2015918799

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5144-2527-5

      Softcover      978-1-5144-2529-9

      eBook      978-1-5144-2528-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 12/02/2015

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Foreword

A Wonderful Opportunity

The Park Begins

Demolition Projects

Naming Geographic Areas In The Park

Maintenance Projects

Development Projects

More Park Stories

The (almost) Completed Park

The Park People

My Thoughts In Retrospect

This book is lovingly dedicated to my family: My dad, Ranger Dick McKillop; my mom, Gladys; my sisters, Gayle and Nancy; and my husband Don.

– Sherry McKillop

Acknowledgements

A great big Thank You to the California Graybears, a network of retired State Park Rangers and (in the case of my older sister, Gayle, and I) children of retired rangers. They are a wellspring of encouragement, a deep resource of information, and faithful keepers of history and passion for California State Parks and the rangers who served.

I wish to thank the following people for their specific help with this project:

Shanda Grunkemeyer-Gibbs, retired California State Park Ranger, who served at Montaña de Oro and who provided a portal (in the form of the grand opening ceremony program) to a whole new layer of information and inquiry into how the land was acquired. For her enthusiastic support, empathy, and encouragement I will be forever grateful.

Carl Chavez, retired California State Park Ranger, author and friend, for his generous guidance, encouragement, and support. This project received a solid foundation after I spoke with him.

Bob Allen, retired California State Park Ranger, for his contribution of the Spooner Cove outhouse story and for confirmation of details on the fence removal project.

The California State Archives researchers, for their help in determining the dates of the purchase of the land that became the park.

Gladys McKillop, Dad’s dedicated park wife, retired executive secretary, and my mom, for her exceptional proofreading skills, input, and encouraging praise.

Donald Bishop, my ever helpful husband, for providing the equipment and scanning Dad’s slides and photos. Also for his fresh eyes on the final draft of this manuscript and his high grammatical standards, which equal mine. His participation carried this project to its final destination.

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Ranger Richard C. (Dick) McKillop

Foreword

by Sherry McKillop

My father, Ranger Dick McKillop, passed away December 3, 2008. In the years after his retirement from California State Parks at the end of 1993, he maintained a keen interest in Montaña de Oro, a park he was privileged to initially develop. He offered his knowledge and experience to volunteers, docents, and visitors alike.

It is safe to present as fact that Montaña de Oro is the most loved State Park in San Luis Obispo County. This was a great thrill to Dad.

It was my privilege to carry on Dad’s legacy in the area by serving on the Board of Directors of the Central Coast Natural History Association (now the Central Coast State Parks Association) for several years (two as Chair) when I lived in San Luis Obispo. His legacy is carried forward with the completion of this book.

In 2005, when he wrote his 14-page report on the building of Montaña de Oro, it had been nearly 40 years since Dad had worked in the park. Several years after he passed, and knowing 2015 would mark the 50th birthday of the park, I began to envision the possibility of taking Dad’s report and creating this book to offer at that milestone.

I have many very clear memories of time spent exploring and playing on the trails, dunes, bluffs, beaches, tide pools, and creeks in the park. I have incorporated those images, firmly engraved on my mind, in the descriptions of events Dad chronicled, and used my own research to enhance and complete his narrative.

Dad wished his readers to know that the chronology and details of events may not be exactly accurate but are presented to the best of his memory. I have done my best to verify names, dates, and photographs using every resource available to me.

Like a detective working to solve a cold-case mystery, I followed each lead that could possibly illuminate the details of how the State of California was able to purchase the land out of the Rancho Montaña de Oro, Inc. bankruptcy.

I had big hopes that KSBY would have the original film from the grand opening ceremony. (One can see the camera in the photo from that event.) This footage would hopefully contain the speech given by attorney Morris Lavine, entitled,