California Coast & Ocean

It’s all open to the public now, all 13 miles--949 acres--of the gorgeous natural coastline that was added to the state park system in 2005 as part of the historic $95-million Hearst Ranch conservation deal. The basic amenities most parks provide--restrooms, designated parking, and developed trails--are almost entirely missing, and you won’t find many signs and signals to point your way. In some places you have to climb fences and even slip through holes in barbed wire if you want to reach the shore. You’re on your own and have to exercise due caution. But what a treat it is to have this wild coast to explore.

Supervising State Park Ranger Leander Tamoria and environmental scientist Brian Barandon helped David Sneed of the San Luis Obispo Tribune find his way along this spectacular shoreline so he could tell the public about it. Here, in four parts, are some hiking options in the newly expanded San Simeon State Park, based on Sneed’s articles, published in 2006 and abridged and updated here with the Tribune’s permission. Note that these articles are not a guide to the park. They are a set of hints, clues, and observations that may help you decide where to hike, where to take Highway 1 to the next place to pull off, where to linger, fish, or watch wildlife.

Blufftop Trails and Tidepools
Junge Ranch to Hearst Memorial State Beach (3.5 miles)
The southern boundary of the newly expanded San Simeon State Park is about five miles north of Cambria, at the end of Lone Palm Drive just north of San Simeon Creek Road. This part of the state park is known as the Junge Ranch, after a family ranch that was eventually taken over by Hearst. You pass through a newly installed pedestrian entrance and follow a primitive trail that skirts a private residence and leads to the rocky shore. As you take in the views, the tang of salt air and seaweed fills your nostrils.

The trail turns north and meanders atop coastal bluffs, with pocket beaches below, for about three-quarters of a mile to the community of San Simeon Acres. The highway is only about a quarter of a mile away, but you’re separated from it by low hills covered with grass and wild radish, and soon you feel surrounded by nature. “The big appeal is the sense of isolation, yet you are right next to the highway,” said Tamoria.

This bluff trail is an excellent place from which to observe wildlife. Seabirds--Brandt’s cormorants, mostly--roost on the many offshore rocks, where harbor seals also rest, eyeing you warily as you approach. Toward the northern end of the Junge Ranch, you’ll have to hop over a seasonal creek. Its small pools are habitat for the California red-legged frog, a federally listed threatened species, Barandon said.

This part of the park is visited mostly by fishermen and locals who already know of its existence. Veteran surfers have named the break here Cardiacs because the waves break dangerously close to the rocks.

San Simeon Acres and a parcel of land at Pico Cove are privately owned. Just past the cove, you have to use one of three Caltrans vista points to get back onto parkland, which here consists of a narrow strip of beach that runs two and a half miles north to Hearst Memorial State Beach and Old San Simeon Village.

The three vista points along this stretch invite motorists to pull over and enjoy the sight of waves crashing on rocks. Many tourists pose to have their pictures taken with the southern approaches to Big Sur looming in the background. If you’re sure-footed, you may be able to scramble down to the beach and enjoy some tidepooling. Surf-drenched rocks intermingle with sandy beaches here, giving the shoreline explorer the best of both worlds.

By keeping to the sandy areas, you can examine the profusion of mollusks, crustaceans, and algae clinging to the rocks without damaging them by walking on them. The best areas are those that are protected by a row of seaward rocks and reefs, screening the tide pools from the surf. These pools are often a soup of colorful bits of seaweed. Kelp looks drab when lying exposed on the beach but takes on its true colors when submerged. Iridescent seaweed lives up to its name, giving off flashes of turquoise and blue as it sways in the water.

As you explore, you’ll see purple and striped shore crabs scuttling for shelter in rock crevices. Also keep an eye out for a truly bizarre tidepool denizen, the gumboot chiton (pronounced kite-on), a type of mollusk. Unlike most chitons, which are small--the size of your thumb--gumboots can be a foot long. They tend to nestle in the sand next to rocks, looking like chunks of weathered bricks. They do not cling as tightly to rocks as other chitons do, and are easily dislodged.

This stretch of coastline is also popular with fishermen. Most seek surfperch, but occasionally you may run into polepokers, who fish with broomsticks or bamboo poles, to which they attach a short length of fishing line or wire and a hook baited with squid. The hook is thrust into wave-washed channels between the rocks in hopes that a small rockfish, monkeyface eel, or other shallow-water fish will take the bait.

Tamoria knows that most fishermen want to bring home dinner, but to him the most important reason to visit the coastline here is to enjoy nature.

South of Piedras Blancas: Where Elephant Seals and Humans Meet
Arroyo Laguna to Point Piedras Blancas (4 miles)
This four-mile stretch of coastline is a spectacular addition to San Simeon State Park and offers some of the best wildlife-viewing opportunities in the state. Some 15,000 northern elephant seals gather during mating and breeding season at the Piedras Blancas rookery, seven miles north of San Simeon. Last year, 4,000 pups were born. The best way to see them is to pull over at the main seal-viewing area, where Friends of the Elephant Seal station knowledgeable, blue-jacketed docents (see Ebb & Flow).

From a little-used paved parking lot just north of the Piedras Blancas elephant seal viewing area, a network of primitive trails meanders across coastal bluffs with a historic lighthouse as a backdrop. The trails lead past a rocky surf-washed coastline interspersed with beaches that are often packed with elephant seals. All but one of the beaches along this four-mile stretch are off-limits to hikers to protect both seals and people. In most places, including the parking lot, visitors must climb over gates to get access to this part of the park. An exception is the new pedestrian entrance a quarter-mile north of the lighthouse on Point Piedras Blancas.

About a half-mile north of the paved lot’s gate, an elephant seal beach lies close to Highway 1. Avoid the temptation to wander among these giant marine mammals. They may look placid but they are dangerous. North of this beach, the park broadens as it approaches Point Piedras Blancas. Another enticing beach lies along the southern flank of the point, but rangers say this, too, is closed to humans.

The 131-year-old light station at the tip of the point is primarily used for scientific research and is not part of the park. It is owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management. A cattle guard in the access road to the light station marks the beginning of the BLM property; park visitors should stay out. Call Hearst Castle to find out about monthly public tours: (805) 927-6811.

Another popular access spot is Arroyo Laguna, about two miles south of the main elephant seal viewing area. It is the one beach along this stretch of park that remains open to people. Strong onshore breezes and easy access have made Arroyo Laguna a magnet for wind surfers, whose colorful, billowing sails are readily visible from the highway. The beach is also popular with fishermen, tidepool enthusiasts, and bird watchers.

Visitors park in a small dirt lot and climb over a metal gate. A well-worn trail leads to a beautiful beach--perfect for strolling barefoot in the surf--which arcs three-quarters of a mile south, with a few rock outcroppings scattered along the way. This beach normally teems with shorebirds--willets, sanderlings, marbled godwits, and long-billed curlews, to name a few. Behind the beach are low, grassy bluffs intersected by several driftwood-clogged arroyos.

North of Arroyo Laguna, the next public access spot is a Caltrans vista point marked by a cluster of cypress trees. Blufftop hiking north and south from this point is poor. This part of the park consists mostly of a narrow strip of land between the ocean and the highway, degraded by road-building and overrun with non-native plants. Visitors should be prepared to scramble over drainage culverts and through eroded creek beds.

Another mile up the coast from the vista point is the main elephant seal viewing area with its large dirt parking lot. Plans call for a boardwalk to connect this parking lot to the paved one a short distance to the north.

On most days the main elephant seal viewing area is a hive of human and seal activity. Docents answer tourists’ familiar questions: “Why are the seals here?” “Why do they flip sand on themselves?” “Why are some of them fighting?” Last year, the docents reported, they talked to an estimated 85,000 visitors.

November through February is the best time to watch the seals because they are mating and giving birth. During July and August, the beaches are less populated with seals, but the viewing is still fun because this is the time of year the huge bull elephant seals--some weighing two tons--come to the beach for their annual molt.

Squishy Ice Plant, Eroding Bluffs, a Beach
Point Piedras Blancas to Arroyo de la Cruz (3 miles)
A visit to a three-mile stretch of San Simeon State Park north of Point Piedras Blancas yields several unusual experiences. You traverse a solid blanket of ice plant, a creeping invasive species that forms a squishy mat of emerald green. You go past a funky motel and a section of Highway 1 that is in danger of falling into the ocean, and you pass a scenic stretch that was used for decades as a homeless camp.

When State Parks acquired 13 miles of coastline as part of the historic $95 million Hearst Ranch conservation deal in 2005, it also inherited a host of problems that had plagued previous owners and other public agencies, including invasive plants, rapid coastal erosion, and unauthorized camping.

There are two main public access points to the park between Point Piedras Blancas and Arroyo de la Cruz, one of the Hearst Ranch’s largest creeks: at the defunct Piedras Blancas Motel, and at the creek.

You can park at the motel parking lot, where there are portable restrooms; there are none on any of the other newly acquired parklands. A hiking trail leads to a nearby beach.

After a short walk on the beach you can climb up to the bluffs and head south to Point Piedras Blancas, about a mile away. There is no trail, however. Hikers must step over several fences and walk over an almost unbroken blanket of ice plant. Ice plant was introduced during a less environmentally enlightened time to stabilize eroding coastal bluffs, and has taken over an estimated 80 acres of the 959-acre parklands acquisition. “It’s the most widespread plant out here,” said park environmental scientist Brian Barandon. Park managers are planning an ice plant eradication campaign to allow native plants to re-sprout.

Access to the many pocket beaches below the steep bluffs is spotty. The bluffs are generally too high to climb down safely. “That stretch between the lighthouse and Arroyo de la Cruz is the fastest eroding area--a little over three feet a year based on photos over the past 30 years,” said Paul Martinez, Caltrans project manager for the area.

Just north of the motel the coast has eroded so fast that a section of Highway 1 is threatened. This problem is so severe that Caltrans will re-route the highway about 350 feet farther inland, Martinez said. The agency has begun the extensive environmental analysis that such projects require. That should be complete by 2010.

“We wouldn’t get to construction until 2015 or so,” Martinez said. “It’s a long-term project just because of the sensitivity of the area, which includes wetlands, cultural areas, and endangered species. That area is really rich in everything.”

When the realignment is complete, all the land west of the highway will become part of the park, causing it to grow by an estimated 100 acres.

In the meantime, park visitors must contend with a dangerous stretch of road. Caltrans has fortified the coast with riprap and has installed concrete barriers along the highway, but that is not enough to keep waves from slopping onto the road during heavy surf.

“Where else can you go surfing in your car?” Barandon quipped.

Farther north of the motel, the park consists of a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the highway and the ocean. This strip is about a mile long and can be reached from several pullouts along the highway. But hiking with cars whizzing by several feet away is not that enjoyable. As the highway approaches Arroyo de la Cruz, it begins to swing inland and the park widens. Look for the remnants of a driveway and metal gate before the highway slopes down to the bridge over Arroyo de la Cruz. A pedestrian entrance was recently installed next to the gate. This is the second access point along this stretch of coastline.

Here the park opens up into a highly scenic triangle bordered by Highway 1, the ocean, and Arroyo de la Cruz creek to the north. An old dirt road leads hikers north across the bluffs, which mostly drop directly to the ocean, and overgrown trails meander near the bluff edge. After about a quarter of a mile, the old road leads hikers to a small sand spit between the ocean and Arroyo de la Cruz lagoon. In winter this beach is popular with catch-and-release anglers pursuing steelhead trout.

The Northernmost Stretch: Ocean Vistas, Grassy Bluffs, and Thriving Tidepools
Arroyo de la Cruz to Breaker Point (2 miles)
Park managers familiar with the 13 miles of coastal land recently added to San Simeon State Park consider the northernmost two miles to be the most ecologically rich and least disturbed by human activities. Here the visitor will find magnificent ocean vistas with Big Sur as a backdrop, rolling grasslands, tall coastal bluffs, acres of tidepools, and the park’s northernmost sandy beach.

“This really feels like the gateway to Big Sur,” said Barandon.

This part of the park stretches north from Arroyo de la Cruz; a small ranch house on the inland side of Highway 1 marks the northern boundary. This stretch has had so little use by the public that many of its features are unnamed. There are no established entry points, and getting into this part of the park can be difficult. Park managers say they need to complete their resource inventory and take public input before deciding where access points and trailheads will be located. In the meantime, they recommend that visitors find a place to park safely off the highway and walk along the barbed-wire fence to find a place to climb over or under. In several places, strands of the barbed wire have been cut; look for well-trodden paths in the grass that lead to them. During dry season, when the creek does not flow into the ocean, another option is to walk north from Arroyo de la Cruz, where a pedestrian entrance has recently been installed.

Just north of Arroyo de la Cruz is Point Sierra Nevada, a rocky cape named after a steamship that ran aground near there in heavy fog on Oct. 17, 1869. All the passengers were saved, but the ship was a complete loss. For detailed period newspaper accounts of the shipwreck, go to www.pt5dome.com/snwreck.htm.

Running along the upper flank of Point Sierra Nevada is the northernmost beach in the park. With the exception of a driftwood shelter or crude bench here and there, it is so free of human imprints that it’s easy to imagine you are the first person to walk these sands.

Undulating sand dunes behind this beach are remarkably free of ice plant and other invasive plants, Barandon said. He plans to use them as a model for dune restoration projects in other parts of the park.

North of the beach, all but the most determined waders and rock hoppers will want to walk up onto the bluffs to continue the hike. There are no trails, only a few overgrown cow paths.

Park managers say that for safety reasons, the Coastal Trail will traverse this part of the park well back of the bluffs, with a few spur trails to scenic overlooks. The bluffs here are the tallest and steepest in the park.

The landscape north of the beach is mostly grassland, and the walking is generally smooth going. The only obstacles are occasional clumps of coastal scrub and chest-high fields of wild mustard. Some of the park’s rarest plants can be seen in these grasslands, including the Hearst manzanita and Hearst ceanothus, evergreen shrubs that grow on the Hearst Ranch and nowhere else.

An extremely lucky hiker might even glimpse Roosevelt elk, one of several exotic animals introduced to the ranch by William Randolph Hearst. Elk hoofprints have been found in this part of the park, Barandon said.

About a mile north of Arroyo de la Cruz, hikers will encounter Arroyo de los Chinos Creek. Park archaeologists have found geraniums blooming near its mouth, indicating that a homestead once stood there; perhaps that of a Chinese kelp harvester or ranch hand.

Arroyo de los Chinos flows year-round and is overgrown with willows and other plants. Hikers should look for remnants of an old roadbed that cuts into the creek banks, and follow an old cow trail across the creek.

A large promontory is visible to the north of Arroyo de los Chinos. The view from its crest toward Big Sur is among the most spectacular in California.

In the foreground, gently sloping hills covered with maritime grasses and chaparral lead to a wide bay studded with surf-battered rocks and sea stacks. In the background, the Santa Lucia Range rises abruptly from the ocean. After pausing to soak in this majestic scene, hikers can continue north and find another obscure remnant of the ranch’s history. Perched on the edge of the bluffs are rusty bundles of heavy-duty cables and cross plates. Park managers say they do not know why the cables are there or what they might have been used for.

At the foot of the bluffs beneath the cables, a broad rocky bench jutting into the ocean is festooned with bright yellow squares bolted into the rock. The squares are part of a research station, one of many scattered along the West Coast, where university biologists study how tidepools change over time and how they are affected by human activity.

Researchers will be watching these tidepools closely to see how they change as a result of increased human visitation, said Pete Raimondi, a biology professor at UC Santa Cruz who heads the study along the Central Coast.

“Those are some of the most pristine areas we have,” he said. “We are concerned about increased usage now that the ranch has been opened to the public.”

Past the tidepool monitoring area, the park narrows to several hundred feet, then broadens again. Hikers will come to several small seasonal creeks that are best crossed near the highway, where they are shallowest. This area offers more tall coastal bluffs and multiple offshore pinnacles. Soon hikers will reach a larger creek at the northern boundary of the park, marked by a fence. The area to the north, Ragged Point, remains part of the Hearst Ranch. A mile and half to the north, at the mouth of San Carpoforo Creek, is a sliver of parkland, but there is little to distinguish it from adjacent Los Padres National Forest.