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HIDDEN GEM

The Legend Behind Oso Flaco Lake

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK NAKAMURA

Twilight arrived quickly and Mark Nakamura’s family was ready to leave. But, not before one last shot. With his Canon 5D Mark III set up on a tripod with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, he captured the shot you see here, which because of the near-perfect light, required minimal touch-up after the fact.

It is interesting to think about how this photo links Nakamura, who has a passion for travel—he once took a two-year sabbatical with his wife to Jakarta where his photographic skills blossomed—to another traveler: Gaspar de Portola. Nearly 250 years ago, Portola likely stood in the same spot when the men of his expedition—hungry from a long day of travel—spotted a funny looking skinny bear, or oso flaco, roaming the shores. The bear became dinner that night for the weary crew. By morning, many of the explorers had fallen violently ill, and by the following day several of them had died. As they sorted through the aftermath, the Spaniards suspected that the native Chumash had poisoned the bear in an effort to prevent the ravenous forager from gobbling up all of the precious edible resources that Mother Nature was providing locally. Today, Oso Flaco Lake is an oft-overlooked gem of the Central Coast. As part of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, the small body of water sitting just north of Guadalupe, is considered by those who know it well to be one of the best kept secrets of the county. For Nakamura, who has taught elementary school for nearly 30 years—he does wedding and portraiture photography on the side—the little lake is the perfect subject. As he explains, “I also wanted to capture the boardwalk to give the shot some context, but really it was just a matter of waiting for the light to be right. The colors and the texture were unlike anything you can imagine.” SLO LIFE