The dunes, the lake, the mist, the whatever that stuff is here in front... eerie. Some more info about this area: The Nipomo Dunes Complex is the second-largest stretch of dunes in California. The strip of coastline has the highest beach dunes in the western United States, with Mussel Rock Dune reaching a height of 500 feet. Dune-building began 18,000 years ago at the end of the last glacial period. The oldest dunes lie on the top of the Nipomo and Orcutt Mesas east of the preserve. These dunes are now stabilized and covered with plants. Between the mesas and the beach, younger dunes, created since the end of the of the Pleistocene Epoch, form a series of sparsely vegetated ridges and hollows. Wind-borne sand is carried inland from the beach and deposited into the characteristic parabola or bowl-shaped mounds.