Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!
San Francisco Bay Area➢
In October of 2025, I flew to the San Francisco Bay Area for a long weekend to visit my cousin, who had been battling a serious illness. Her partner had spent the past two years balancing work with full-time caregiving, so we made a point of getting out for a few day trips while also spending time at my cousin’s bedside. We had originally planned to visit several National Park Service sites, but a federal government shutdown began the day I arrived, closing them all. Fortunately, California’s outstanding state park system gave us plenty to explore instead. Over the next few days, we visited towering redwoods, coastal beaches, historic sites, wildlife sanctuaries, and scenic reservoirs, proving that even with unexpected changes, the Bay Area offers no shortage of memorable places to discover.
In my rented Prius, I visited Portola Redwoods, Natural Bridges, Cowell Redwoods, Old St. Hilary’s Historic Preserve, Burlingame Shorebird Sanctuary, Lafayette Reservoir, and San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. Though I’ve visited the area many times over the years, these were all new parks for me.
Natural Bridges➢
My cousin and I spent the morning at Natural Bridges State Park, a coastal park just west of Santa Cruz. We started at the visitor center, where we looked through the displays and learned more about the park’s natural history. One exhibit showed a series of photographs taken between 1900 and 1994, documenting the changing natural bridges along the shoreline. The park originally had three natural wave-carved rock spans. The first collapsed around 1905 after years of erosion. The second remained until January 10, 1980, when a fierce winter storm brought it down. Today, only one arch remains. The photographs made it easy to see how erosion has gradually changed the shoreline and explains how the park got its name.
We then set out on the Moore Creek Trail, which took us through several different parts of the park. The trail passed the beach and followed Moore Creek before cutting through a mobile home park and continuing to a bluff overlooking Monterey Bay. Along the coast, tidepools provide opportunities to see marine life at low tide. The combination of beach, creek, coastal habitat, and ocean views made this a varied hike rather than simply a walk to see the natural bridge.
Back near the visitor center, we walked the boardwalk through the eucalyptus grove on the Monarch Trail. Natural Bridges is known as a wintering site for monarch butterflies, which gather in the grove during their annual migration. Unfortunately, we arrived a couple of weeks too early and missed the main migration. Even without the butterflies, the walk through the grove gave us another look at an important part of the park’s habitat.
Natural Bridges State Park was established in 1933 and protects about 65 acres of coastal habitat. The park’s shoreline, tidepools, beach, and freshwater marsh provide habitat for a variety of plants and wildlife. Its remaining natural bridge is the most recognizable feature, but our visit showed that there is much more to explore. We enjoyed a picnic lunch before moving on to our next stop.
Bay Area Posts➢
- Portola Redwoods State Park
- Natural Bridges State Park
- Cowell Redwoods State Park
- Old St. Hilary’s Historic Preserve
- Burlingame Shorebird Sanctuary
- Lafayette Reservoir
- San Juan Bautista State Historic Park
Location: 2531 W. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, California
Designation: State Park
Date designated/established: 1933
Date of my visit: October 3, 2025
