Bob Lorentzen & Richard Nichols
The huge human population of southern California lives there in large part because of the mild desert climate and warm, inviting coast and ocean. The 4000 square miles of Los Angeles County alone hold a population of over 10.5 million. Several feature articles in this book discuss the results of historic, persistent abuse by government…
Read MoreComplementing the wonders of the immense Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is one of the world’s great aquariums and interpretive centers. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, located at the end of the last hike in this book, presents a living representation of the many habitats in and around the bay in more than a hundred innovative…
Read MoreThe waves we see dashing against the coast start hundreds of miles offshore. As winds blow across the ocean’s surface, they create waves of various sizes.A wave’s size depends on wind velocity, duration and the distance the wind blows across the open ocean. Waves break, showing a churning crest of foam along their leading edge…
Read MoreMonterey Bay holds the closest-to-shore deep ocean environment in the continental U.S. and one of North America’s largest submarine canyons, but it was the threat of offshore oil development that in 1992 led to the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the nation’s largest. This huge preserve covers 5312 square miles including 360…
Read MoreYou’ll see them all along the California coast, crashing into the ocean and gracefully gliding just above rolling waves. They, along with the less common white pelican, are the biggest flying critters on the coast. Brown pelicans boast a wingspan up to 6½ feet, with white pelicans reaching an astounding 9½ feet. The browns breed…
Read MoreIf you had been walking the Santa Cruz coastline at 5:04 P.M. on October 17, 1989, a powerful earthquake would have jolted you from your revelry with nature. The strong quake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, shook the entire central California coast. It hit during the third game of baseball’s World Series between San…
Read MoreThe fragile and beautiful monarch butterfly, brightly orange and black with white spots, makes a journey as long as 3000 miles from the eastern seaboard to wintering sites in central Mexico where they escape harsh winters. The west coast population doesn’t have to make it all the way to Mexico in winter because the central…
Read MoreLargest of the world’s seals, the elephant seal’s name derives from the male’s huge size, up to 22 feet long and four tons in weight, and long drooping nose, or proboscis. The females weigh up to 2000 pounds and grow to 10 feet long. By 1868 the scientific community thought the northern elephant seal was…
Read MoreGiant thistles and a mustard that looks like a miniature cabbage are two important crops growing along the coasts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. While walking this stretch of California Coastal Trail, you’ll walk among artichokes and Brussels sprouts which thrive in the cool summer fog and rich, sandy alluvial soils of the…
Read MoreIt’s easy to destroy the natural processes of beach formation with enough large rocks and money. That’s what the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers did in 1959 when they built the long planned Pillar Point Harbor breakwater. Before the breakwater, waves from the northwest bent around the point and lost much of their energy, and waves…
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