Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

The finest stretch of rocky Pacific coast you can walk without a boat or a permit. Point Lobos sits about five miles south of Carmel on Highway 1, and the state reserve protects a ragged headland of granite, sea caves, and coves where California sea lions bark from the rocks, sea otters float in the kelp forest offshore, and grey whales pass close in winter. The Monterey cypress groves on the point are among the last natural stands of the species on Earth.

The diving here is legendary — the underwater kelp forests and the rugged sea floor give the State Park Foundation its description as the "crown jewel of the state park system." Non-divers can see the kelp from the clifftop paths. The Bird Island Trail (two miles, easy) covers the best of the southern coves; the North Shore Trail passes the sea lion rocks. Entry is by timed reservation in summer.

Reserve entrance on Highway 1, Carmel Highlands.

things to do sight wildlife
A story
Point Lobos has been called "the greatest meeting of land and water in the world" — the phrase is attributed to landscape photographer Edward Weston, who photographed the cypress trees and tide pools here in the 1930s. Weston lived in nearby Carmel for much of his life, and the reserve's twisted Monterey cypress groves, many of them centuries old, were among his favourite subjects. The reserve was spared from development only because a planned hotel project collapsed in the 1930s and the state acquired the land.