A whole lot of Route 1 driving and a whole bunch of coastal stops along the way.
California’s Route 1 starts just south of Los Angeles in Orange County and stretches up the coast for 656 miles to Leggett, north of Fort Bragg. I started to follow Route 1 in San Simeon, about one third of the way up the coast, continuing up to Monterey. Now for more coastal exploring.
Santa Cruz is a moderately sized city on the California Coast, famous for its pier, surfing and whale watching. Well, I kind of saw the pier and a whale, at least. I also found a lighthouse. A decent visit for being obscenely early in the morning.
Sunrise over Santa Cruz. You can sort of see the Santa Cruz Pier there.
The humpback part of a Humpback Whale! It was randomly surfacing but the birds above were following it around. They helped me get this photo.
The Santa Cruz Lighthouse, now the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.
Next stop was Año Nuevo State Park, further up the coast. Año Nuevo is famous for its elephant seals. The breeding area has a person limit and requires an in-person permit to visit. That has been suspended due to Covid. Since I have seen plenty of elephant seals on this trip, that was not too much of a bummer, but I still had a quick stop at the park to see the birds. It’s not like I haven’t seen enough of those yet.
Año Nuevo has coastal bluffs, scrublands, wetlands, and prairies.
The trail is really pretty, I must say.
A California Scrub Jay (formerly known as a Western Scrub Jay) that’s about to have a meal.
Pelicans kept flying over the trail from a pond one side to the beach on the other side.
It was a really pretty pond and really popular with the pelicans.
It was also a really nice beach.
Lots and lots of pelicans.
The pelicans just flying back and forth, pond to ocean, ocean to pond.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse was built in 1871 on the bluffs of Pigeon Point, south of San Francisco. The lighthouse keepers’ quarters now serve as a hostel. Pretty neat.
Well, isn’t that just picturesque.
Next, I continued up Route 1 into San Francisco, stopping in Chinatown for some Chinese food, which is a must. I already explored a lot of Chinatown before in another post, so let’s skip that and move on.
The last stop for the day was Point Reyes National Seashore. It was a very short visit as it was the end of the day, and it was starting to get dark. Much of the park was closed, not due to Covid (very odd) but due to a recent wildfire and road construction. I happened to find a little piece open to visit. I guess I’ll have to go back again someday to see the rest. What a shame!
Point Reyes is on a peninsula separated fairly separated from the mainland. It is much bigger than it looks. Of course, the part that was completely open, was one of the furthest parts out. Part of Point Reyes still has cattle grazing. Many environmentalists are not happy about this but it’s in the park founding documents and efforts to reduce grazing have not been successful. After driving through some pastures, I ended up at the Tule Elk Preserve. (They should have their run of the entire park, in my opinion.) There is a trail that runs all the way to the end of Tomales Point but I didn’t really have time for that, so I just explored a bit around the Pierce Point Ranch.
Tule Elk are the smallest subspecies of elk in the United States. They are half the size of Roosevelt elk that live a bit further north along the coast near Redwoods. They live in a few scattered parks and refuges along the California coast but lived along the entire coast when the Spanish arrived. There are only about 4,000 left in the wild and that’s why we need to get rid of cattle grazing at Point Reyes.
Look at that big fella.
Tomales Bay is super skinny.
Lots of Tule Elk butt.
Look at this little cutie! I always loved the babies.
Pierce Point Ranch was one of the largest ranches in Point Reyes in the 1800s. The ranch sold dairy items all the way to San Francisco until 1980, when the National Park Service decided to restore it as it was the least modernized ranch complex in the area.
Pierce Point Ranch complex was found in 1858.
The dairy barn.
The site has a house, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, barns, dairy houses, and other buildings.
This part of the peninsula has a fairly good drop to the beaches and ocean.
The elevation drops when you head to the lighthouse at the end of that point, which was closed due to road construction. Judging by the state of the road getting to the Tule Elk preserve, it was most likely very much needed.
A new day dawns and it’s another day heading up the coast on Route 1. It was again a long day in the car, with lots of stops to share. The day started in Bodega Bay and ended in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
See something pretty, one must stop. The Coleman Overlook, at Sonoma Coast State Park.
Again, more pretty. Gleason Overlook, at Sonoma Coast State Park.
Found a peregrine falcon on top of that giant rock.
Above Schooner Gulch State Beach. The goal was actually in the next photo.
Bowling Ball Beach. Well, it’s supposed to be Bowling Ball Beach, but it’s around high tide and all the round rocks that give Bowling Ball Beach its name are underwater. Oh, well. It’s still pretty.
The trail to the beach had some awesome trees.
Point Arena Lighthouse in the distance. I did actually get closer; I just like this view. It was originally constructed in 1870 but had to be rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake.
The next stop was the Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park. It’s a small lighthouse out on some bluffs. The lighthouse didn’t need to be very tall since it was so high above sea level already. Most of the original outbuildings still remain and they are adorable.
The Head lightkeeper’s house. There are two other houses as well. You can apparently rent them for your vacation.
Small and adorable.
The biggest town before reaching Humboldt Redwoods is Fort Bragg. The old fishing harbor has a bunch of fish eateries that are very popular.
The Fort Bragg harbor. Not seen is the really ugly Route 1 bridge right above me.
Now for my last stop is Fort Bragg’s famous Glass Beach. Glass Beach? Sounds Dangerous. Awhile back it was a dumping ground for glass, which was water worn into smooth pebbles creating a colorful beach. It’s very popular and impossible to get a photo of at sunset because of glares. Plus, the glass is slowly disappearing because people keep taking it. People ruin everything.
There is glass there. It’s just past the sand.
The “sand” is glass, just hard to see.
Now you can see the glass.
Let’s just say, California’s Route 1 has a lot to offer. In two days, I saw multiple lighthouses, multiple parks, San Francisco (not pictured), a bit of Santa Cruz, Fort Bragg, etc., and that was only two days. I had already spent two days prior to this on Route 1 and there is more to come. Then there is even more when Route 1 joins Route 101.
Check out my next update where I explore the magnificent Humboldt Redwoods State Park!
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I’m surprised that you were able to even see that whale or that falcon. My eyes are certainly not that good. Great post!
To be totally honest, someone pointed the whale out to me and told me to watch the birds to follow it. So I kind of cheated on that one. The falcon looked a lot bigger in real life than in the photo.