GQ: What are the pillars along the Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach?

Posted: Sep 19, 2012 8:21 PM by John Reger

There's an odd sight in some woodlands right off of Avila Beach Drive that's left many people mystified. Tom Cleaves of Arroyo Grande says he's walked by some columns a hundred times and asked everyone he encounters about them. Tom wants to know what they are and that's Good Question.

They catch the eye of most everyone along the Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach: mysterious pillars rising out of a meadow. They're brown, perfectly shaped, all with the same diameter, but of different heights. Some of them seem randomly scattered, others appear to be in some kind of design.

A girl on roller blades skated by and thought it was some kind of art installation.

There is a stone labyrinth a few hundred yards away so it's conceivable the pillars were laid out by some artistic human hands. "Something like Stonehenge," said a young man on also on roller blades. "It's possible. I wouldn't know, I have no idea."

Signs in the area suggest the pillars might be part of a wetland habitat. San Luis Creek flows right nearby.

The pillars are 10 to 15 feet high, made out of rusted steel, and about 2 to 3 hundred of them cover the quiet field.

A woman walking the trail with her son and pushing her mother in a wheel chair had a celestial guess. "My son said they have a certain pattern to them so maybe they're one of those martian landing spots."

The real answer is found across the street at Sycamore Springs Resort. It owns the land and put up the pillars some years ago for new bungalows. "These are foundations for about 30 units," said Charles Crellin. "And they're raised up the way you see them because it's a flood plain and they have to be elevated."

There are no specific plans to get construction started on the bungalows but Sycamore Springs says the project would include a spa, a garden, even a space for music concerts.

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