Birds, coastlines and golf? Explore two of Monterey County, California’s impressive natural areas!
Monterey County encompasses a huge area of the California Coast, including the famed Big Sur. Monterey County is named for Monterey Bay. Next to Monterey Bay is the Monterey Peninsula, which has several towns on it, one of which is named Monterey. I can see why people just call this area Monterey.
Also on the Monterey Peninsula is Pebble Beach, a huge golf resort/natural area, which is one of the more interesting places I’ve visited. On the south end of the Monterey Peninsula is Carmel-by-the-Sea (or simply, Carmel), famous for its wonderful Spanish mission and lovely town beach. Just south of Carmel is Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.
Point Lobos is said to be the “crown jewel” of California’s huge state park system. California has some amazing state parks and I got to say, this one was fantastic. Point Lobos is located on a peninsula. The park has a lovely trail that runs the entire coast and several other trails, some going into the interior of peninsula. I hiked two trails and stopped at another point during my visit.
My first stop was Cannery Point, mostly because there was a bathroom there. I headed up the stairs to see some cliffs, birds and some good views of Whaler’s Cove and the Monterey Peninsula.
Point Lobos is a haven for sea birds like pelicans.
The trail heads up the bluff. I didn’t go. I just stared at the water hitting the cliffs.
Beautiful cliffs.
The second stop at Point Lobos was the Bird Island Trail.
Looking down the Point Lobos coast. I would love to go back again someday.
The gray Bird Island, along with its little sister islands.
Gibson Beach. I would love to live on this coast, but I would never be able to afford it.
I’ve never seen so many pelicans in my life.
The trail overlooks a few coves.
At the bottom of one of the coves was a baby harbor seal and its mama. Soooo cute.
The trail ends at Bird Island, which is covered with sea birds, like pelicans, gulls, cormorants and their poo, hence the light color of the islands.
The last trail I hiked at Point Lobos was the Cypress Grove Trail.
The trail skirts a cypress grove containing the rare Monterey cypress, found in one other location, Pebble Beach.
Those rare Monterey Cypress.
A lovely partially shaded trail.
I can see why this park is so popular.
Pelicans flying just above the waves.
Craggy cliffs, my favorite.
This view of Cypress Cove was one of my favorite views. The waves crashing here were wonderfully expressive.
Point Lobos has become too popular for the park to handle, a common theme for many parks across the United States. The park only has 150 parking spots inside the park. Many visitors have to park along Route 1 and walk into the park. The state may bring in a reservation system for the future. I luckily found a parking spot with no problem.
Pebble Beach is a large golf resort community on the Monterey Peninsula. Instead of living by one golf course, you live by four, plus a couple of hotels. Pebble Beach started life as the famous 17-mile Drive, which connected Carmel and Monterey (the town). The drive went along the cliffs and beaches of the coast and through the forested areas of the peninsula. It was an early scenic drive for the rich, with an ulterior motive to get prospective buyers to see the plots of land along it. The first golf course was born in 1916 on the edge of Pebble Beach and so the golf resort was born.
17-mile Drive still takes you around the coast of Pebble Beach, although some of the forest now have homes hidden away in there. As a guest, you pay to enter, but you would do that for any park anyways. It was totally worth it. I spent a good few hours there stopping and checking out the beaches and rocky coastlines, plus so much wildlife.
Moss Beach, the first beach that I encountered. This one had a nice walking path along it.
I may have been slightly afraid of being hit by a stray golf ball while I was here.
The restless sea.
The really squeezed in holes wherever they could in this area.
The expert teeing box for the previous hole is all the way back on this rocky outcrop.
This area would be perfect for tidepooling at low tide.
That rock looks a little weird and it’s moving.
Oh, that’s because it’s covered by harbor seals and sea lions. Both little islands are favorite hang outs for both species. You could hear them yelling all the way from shore.
Fanshell Beach and coast.
Cute harbor seals. They like to snooze on top of kelp beds.
You can see some of the Pebble Beach houses here.
Beautiful coastline. You can barely even make out the house hidden in the trees.
It wouldn’t be too bad living here. That’s if you could afford it.
Monterey County has a ton of parks and other natural areas, some of which I have posted about before. It was great seeing two more wonderful gems of the area. Point Lobos and Pebble Beach are great places to go for any nature lover, even though Pebble Beach is a bit more interesting.
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Never seen so many pelicans in one blog post before. Wow!