#exploreyourcoast

-Photos and text by Destiny Preston

On a warm spring day in Trinidad, students gather to admire the waves and Pewetole Island, a tree-covered offshore rock at College Cove Beach.

Looking out from the trees toward the ocean.

Humboldt County - where the redwoods meet the rugged coastline.

“These driftwood pieces were photographed on one of the pocket beaches below the Mendocino Headlands. I lived in Mendocino village for a short time during grad school and I loved to run loops on the headlands, but I had never actually been down to any of the beaches until last year, when I happened to find a trail on a walk. There was a lot of wood debris on the beach and I loved the variation in color and texture in the driftwood and drift sticks. The ‘big views’ in the Mendocino area are well known, but there is a lot to discover at the small scale, too.”

~Sarah Carvill, Coastal Program Analyst

Moonstone Beach during the August 2018 fires in California, Oregon and Canada displayed dramatic sunsets, with Camel Rock in the distance.

Not long ago I dropped by Marina State Beach for a quick dose of sand, wind, and waves. The beach is an easy stop off of Highway One at the west end of Reservation Road, about half way between Moss Landing and Monterey.

It’s a broad, long beach, perfect for a walk. The parking lot is right next to the beach, so it’s also easy to get down to the sand for just a moment if that’s all the time you’ve got.

An anti-littering sign features the “cig-egret,” a character from the 2005 California Coastal Cleanup Day poster.

A thin layer of fog shrouds Camel Rock and laps at Trinidad Harbor. Is it coming or going?

“My dog, Juneau, is a husky mix who loves to run, and dogs are allowed off-leash on Mitchell’s Cove beach in Santa Cruz before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. each day. The beach is surrounded by bluffs on three sides and accessed only by a staircase, so the dogs are relatively contained—it’s like a natural dog park. When I take Juneau there, he usually gets the “zoomies” (a term dog owners will understand) and tears around in giant circles jumping over and off of large rocks and into piles of seaweed. I somehow captured this picture as he sprinted by me on a broad, smooth rock at the eastern end of the beach.”

~Sarah Carvill, Coastal Program Analyst

“On a recent bright spring day, a diverse multitude of Californians were joyfully exercising their right to access the coast, forming a dense carpet of humans from the sibilant sandbars to the pinniped pack on the seawall. I however, was not craving crowds. I was seeking coastal solitude, quiet, a chance to reflect. Could I find a coastal quiet zone on a busy Saturday in densely populated southern California?

Turning my back to the masses, I walked south and away from the Scripps Park area, but again, I was thwarted in my quest for quiet. This time it was buildings, condos, and privacy walls that crowded the coast. Block after block I walked, enjoying the lush landscape of the coastal properties but getting irritated at my inability to access a serene shoreline. Soon however, the day was saved by a white sign with blue lettering and a funny looking wave logo upon its face, I had stumbled upon a Coastal Accessway. Navigating through the high rises kept me skeptical for the first moments, but soon I could hear waves, feel the breeze, smell shoreline wrack. Best of all, the beach was a quiet place featuring a few beach walkers, a dog playing with a child, surfers bobbing offshore.

Sometimes, a coastal accessway is more than a path to the beach. Most times, it leads into your heart.”

~ Kurt Holland, Environmental Literacy Specialist and Lecturer, Department of Science Education, CSU Long Beach

The Nicholson Point Park accessway is found at the south end of Coast Boulevard in La Jolla, between residential buildings 100 and 202 Coast Boulevard. Find a map and a description of amenities on YourCoast.org.

The California Coastal Act of 1976 directs the California Coastal Commission to “maximize public access to and along the coast and maximize public recreation opportunities in the coastal zone consistent with sound resource conservation principles and the constitutionally protected rights of private property owners.”

Remember to Look For The Feet when you want to put yours in the sand on the California coast.