When I told a family friend that I live in Monterey, two words tripped out of her mouth immediately: Point Lobos.
A visit to the park, quick or extensive, illustrates immediately that she is onto something. Point Lobos must be a stop on any hiking tour of Monterey County.
The entrance is easy to find, the park staff is friendly, and the area mapped and signed well.
My route began at the Whaler's Cove parking lot, and went along the North Shore Trail.
I decided to continue to take rights in every fork in the trail, hoping to stick to the coast for the ocean views. And that's exactly what I received.
In addition to beautiful, colorful sea scenes—and the charismatic seals and frumpy sea lions—there was so much wildlife I almost stumbled over it.
Quail, a rabbit and small lizards even scattered from my approaching feet as I slowly crept down the well-marked dirt paths.
Some recommendations:
- Bring a bird book and plant book, if you're into that science stuff. The array of birdsongs was amazing, and could maybe be only outnumbered by the variety of plants.
- Hike in the morning. I went on a Thursday morning. The trails will never feel empty of visitors in an area as beautiful and easily accessed as Point Lobos, but I definitely received my solitude fix. That morning, the animals were just beginning their day, quietly waking up to the morning around them. The most beautiful part was the lack of breeze. The sea, in all its kelpiness, rolled in great, round surges to break gently on the rocks below the trail. And as the sun eventually burned off the fog, I could see each vibrant color of the landscape slowly come to life.
- Watch out for the poison oak—yikes! Luckily, I needed no field guide to realize that some of these green and red fields would happily sabotage my sleep quality for the next week, if I cared to go bounding through them. It would do you well to educate the little ones before letting them loose.
- Consider looking up the map ahead of time. If you have a whole day or afternoon, you could easily explore the entire park, and let your whimsical nature guide you. If you have elderly group members or small children, it would be best to focus on one small area, like the Cypress Grove Trail. Some of these trails are short and stunning, and can be easily supplemented by the trails to the left or right, if one turns out not to be enough.
My exploration ended along the Pine Ridge Trail, which looked and smelled like trails in the lower Sierra Nevada mountains.
The diversity in scenery from the beaches and cliffs, to the forests of cypress, to the plateaus and pines, simply amazed me.
With friends, kids, or by yourself, and for any amount of time, Point Lobos is the kind of place that can't be withdrawn from the memory bank.
Its diversity captures the essence of why Monterey County has become a mecca for hikers.
Links for Point Lobos below:
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Monterey, Naturally, is a summer blog series by editorial intern Kristen Stipanov. Blog installments will appear about once a week and will focus on the natural world as a jumping-off point for thoughts on a summer spent in Monterey County. Stipanov is a self declared heavyweight backpacking guru who spends a lot of time with her digital camera, Lucy, and her film camera, Vesper. Her photo adventures and other contributions are made possible by the Rebele Internship Program, a Stanford University Department of Communications-sponsored program designed to both encourage aspiring journalists and strengthen community journalism, by enabling undergrads to gain real world experience at exceptional print newspapers across the country.