Hiking the Glorious Coastline of Garrapata State Park

Date: September 3, 2023

Place: Garrapata State Park, Big Sur, California

Coordinates: 36.452108, -121.925669

Length: 2 miles

Level: easy plus

Nearing the end of a very busy day Pappa Quail and I made the time to squeeze yet another activity - a short hike at Garrapata State Park. The second day of our Labor Day weekend outing started with a whale watching cruise and continued with a hike to the beach and on the hills of Andrew Molera State Park at the north end of the Big Sur. On our drive back north we stopped at the south parking area of Garrapata State Park, right below Soberanes Point and went on a hike. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS. The GPS started recording about a third of a mile into the trail. 

A low cypress near the trailhead provided a perch for our first sighted wildlife on the hike, and Pappa Quail captured it beautifully. 

Butterfly

 What grabbed my attention immediately was the magnificent view of the coastline. By the time we arrived at Garrapata State Park only a handful hints of clouds remained and both sky and ocean were brilliant blue. The coastal cliffs formed coves and points, and an ocean band off shore was strewn with jagged rocks, pinnacles, and islets. It looked both wild an beautiful, inviting and dangerous at the same time. 

Garrapata Coast line, view north

On the south loomed Soberanes Point - a cone-shaped hill covered with chaparral, between Highway 1 and the ocean. My navigator showed a trail surrounding the hill and we debated whether to hike around the hill on that trail. 

Soberanes Point 

The other option was to go on an in-and-out trail to the north side of the park. After a short conversation we decided on the best option - we'll hike both. Starting with the north trail spur we turned right and started moving northward. As always, I turned my attention to the local vegetation. 

California Blackberry, Rubus ursinus 

To see off season bloom the coastal area is the best bet. There weren't lots of wildflowers, but there in Garrapata we saw more bloom than on any of the other places we've visited that weekend. 

Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus

From the lip of the cliffs we had a great view down below, and it looked beautiful and scary. The ocean danced between rock pillars that protruded from the surface. I love being in the waves but I don't think I could have survived even 5 minutes in these currents (not even considering the water temperature).

Whirlpools

The rock pillars were a calm and perfect sanctuary for the sea-faring birds. Pappa Quail quickly found what he was looking for, and started photographing. 

Brandt Cormorants and Western Gulls

Outside the off-shore rock islet area the water was much calmer. I was lulled into a near hypnosis by the movement of the the slow incoming waves. 

Enjoying the rise and fall of the ocean pulse were a few sea birds, and Pappa Quail soon focused his attention on them. 

Western Gull

The swimming gulls remained afloat the entire time. The cormorants  in the water would take a plunge every now and then, to go hunt for fish. 

Brandt Cormorant

The trail took us away from the cliff and near Highway 1 where the north parking area of the park was, hidden behind a grove of dark Monterey cypresses. The path was flanked by California buckwheat shrubs, and they were in bloom. 

Trail

The California buckwheat has a long bloom season. The pinkish-white flowers patterned nicely with the rusty post-bloom fruiting heads. 

California Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum 

Past the north entrance of the park we walked down to the cliffs again. The view of the coastline north of the park was no short of stunning. The beauty of the rugged, sharp rocks, both connected and off the shoreline gave the entire coastal strip a wild, outlandish look. The Pacific Ocean was reasonably peaceful but I could see the power of the waves gnawing constantly at the land, forming this marvelous landscape.

From the coastline view point we moved more t the north along the cliff. Pappa Quail was looking for birds but wasn't opposed to photographing other winged wildlife.

 Butterfly on Seaside Golden Yarrow, Eriophyllum staechadifolium

Pappa Quail also photographed for me some dudleya plants that were blooming far away from my camera's wide lens' reach.

Sea Lettuce, Dudleya farinosa

We passed through the cypress grove and reached the north end of the trail where we had a nice view f the cove below us. I was hypnotized  by the motion of the kelp heads as they bobbed up and down in the waves. 

As it turned out, not all the brown bumps bobbing up and down in the water were kelp. Pappa Quail identified one of them as a sea otter, and pointed it out to me. The otter dived every few minutes, then resurfaced and rolled on its back to eat what it brought from the bottom. That was an exciting sighting. 

Sea Otter

After some time we turned south and started back down the same trail we came on. Off shore along the south coastline were a few islet rocks, and the barks of sea lions carried over from them. 

Once again we passed through the cypress grove. My eyes took a few seconds to adjust and in those seconds the canopied path looked very dark, like a deep tunnel. 

Without much verbal exchange, as if reading each other's mind, Pappa Quail and I continued straight away to the trail that surrounded Soberanes Point. We passed the trail junction and continued on the west, circumventing the hill counterclockwise. 

 Soberanes Point.

For a while, the trail kept us very close to the cliff edge. From there we could look right down the coves below. 

On top of the cliff bloomed more wildflower species than I've seen on the north side of the park. Many of them were composites, like the California asters, which were numerous along that part of the trail. 

California Aster, Symphyotrichum chilense

Seaside daisies were also a common sight along the Soberanes Point trail, at least on the west side of it, in reach of the ocean misty, salty spray. 

Seaside Daisy, Erigeron glaucus

From the south side of the park we got as close as we could to the off shore islet rocks. I kept hearing the sea lions but I couldn't see them with my naked eye. 

Even with using the full strength of his birding lens, Pappa Quail got and image of only dark, sleek spots on the rock. These were the sea lions, calling in the wind during their siesta. 

Unable to see the sea lions without the air of powerful optics, I returned my attention to the vegetation at hand.  

Island Morning Glory, Calystegia macrostegia

Ericameria bushes were blooming, forming large yellow patches on the hillside and on the cliff top extended from the hill. Butterflies and bees were active around these bushes. 

Mock Heather, Ericameria ericoides

less conspicuous were the wirelettuce plans, wearing their delicate, pink blossoms along nearly naked gray stems. 

Rod Wirelettuce, Stephanomeria virgata

A flock of pelicans flew overhead. Pappa Quail didn't bother raising his camera, but I took a few photos. 

Pacific Brown Pelican

The coves on the south side of the park were much narrower, like channels cut into the rock. The waves crashed into the narrow gaps, splashing almost as hike as where we stood, then receded gently back, only to come in again in an endless rhythm. 

Cove

As it turned out, Pappa Quail was interested in the pelicans after all. He simply focused on the birds that were sitting on a far away rock, not on those that were flying.  

Pacific Brown Pelican

Above us to the east loomed Soberanes Point. The hill itself looked nicely green and on its summit grew what looked like a pine tree. We could see the main trail somewhat above us - that was the trail we needed to connect with in order to complete the loop around the hill.  

Soberanes Point 

The trail wee were on continued for a bit longer along the cliff edge and from where we stood it looked like there would be a way to connect with the main around trail further on, so we resumed walking south along the coastline.  

In that area I spotted a patch of milkvetch in bloom. Milkvetch plants can be very local in their range, and this ne was no exception.  

Loco Weed, Astragalus nuttallii

It looked like most of the milkvetch plants in that patch I saw were already past their peak bloom, and were well into their fruiting stage. 

Loco Weed, Astragalus nuttallii

Further down the trail the view to the coastline on the south opened up more. It didn't look as rugged as the coastline on the north. The cliffs were not sheer and platforms of dark, sun-baked rocks extended from the bottom of the cliffs into the ocean. 

Pappa Quail pointed out to me something on those dark rock platforms below. It took me a long while to see what he was pointing at - a small group of oystercatcher birds were standing there, perfectly camouflaged despite their bright red bills and their loud calls. 

Black Oystercatcher

Eventually the trail curved eastward and we followed it into the thick chaparral. The path narrowed considerably and soon we found ourselves rubbing and even pushing through the vegetation. That alone wouldn't have been too much of a challenge, but much of the vegetation we had to push through turned out to be poison oak. me, being sensitive to this plant, tried my best to around contact and failed miserably. One other problem we faced was that was that the place where the path we were ascending on had once connected with the hill surrounding trail had eroded and collapsed, and we had to push through an overgrown narrow makeshift path to reach the main Soberanes Point Trail. I did like the erosion pattern though, and I photographed a bigger one that was visible on the slope opposite of Soberanes Point. 

Soberanes Hill reminded me of a cinder cone. It isn't a volcano though, despite its almost perfect conical shape.  I could detect a few people on the summit and wondered if we should go up there too.  

Soberanes Point 

It was hot though, and both Papa Quail and I were already tired. It has been a long day already. I did raise the suggestion but without much conviction, and Pappa Quail shook his head - it was getting late and he was ready to get back to our lodge. 

Trail

We did slow down a bit, despite being close to the trailhead where we had parked. I kept on the lookout for any bloom and the yellow patches off the trail caught my attention. It looked nice and lively between the rusty and grayish appearance of the other chaparral species. 

We made it back to the first trail junction and I paused to take one more look at the beautiful coastline to the north. I would never get tired of seeing it.  

I got one last bonus before closing the hike - a hedgenettle plant in bloom. The plant itself ooked very dusty, probably because of the many hikers that raise the dust on a regular basis there. the flowers however, looked bright and vibrant. There were many hedgenettle plants in that place, but only that individual was blooming, obtimistic on its chances of getting pollinated. 

Hedgenettle, Stachys sp. 

This hike ended our very busy second day f our Labor Day weekend trip. Yesterday we hiked at Fort Ord National Monument, which was very dry. This day we opened with a very rewarding whale watching cruise and continued with at Andrew Molera State Park. Tomorrow we would be driving home, but we had one more hike in planning before heading back to the Bay Area - the Salinas River unit of Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge.