Hikers Guide

Largest 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…

Giant 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…

It’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…

In the 18th century, the colonial powers considered the California coast hot property. The Spaniards, English, and Russians all wanted the vast resources of this bountiful land. The Spaniards launched expeditions from their colony in Mexico, claiming California for the Spanish crown. The Spaniards worried about the Russian presence in California, with the czar’s men…