Since leaving Santa Cruz after living there for 4 years while attending UCSC, I go back a few times a year, but I will ALWAYS go back in January/February. In my planning for this time around, I wanted to be very specific with the low tide. You can look at the tides schedule anywhere by just googling it, but knowing how to read it is the important thing. Many people who surf or have other ocean hobbies know how to read the tides specifically for what they are trying to do and where they are, but looking for the low tides is a bit more simple. Ideally you want the low tide to be below 0 ft in order to really see into the tide pools. I especially like finding star fish in the tide pools, which requires a very low tide to expose them, so in the negatives is ideal. Lucky for me, a weekend I had free was set to have -0.8 low tides just before/during sunset, which is perfect for me because I can go hike during the day and then be a tide pool gremlin as the sun sets. 

Winter is a great time to visit Santa Cruz not only because of the king tides, but the horizon is usually very clear in winter if it isn’t raining. Summer tends to have a lot of fog on the bay so you can’t see the mountains across the water. Spring and Fall both tend to have a lot of fog in the morning as well, so sunrise is best in Winter. Sunrise over Westcliff is a must. The sun rises over the Monterey mountains that you can see across Monterey Bay as the sunrise turns the oceans reflection to colors of pink and orange. It is a great way to start an adventure day, and if you’re up for it add a cold plunge jump in the ocean!

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and surrounding areas is such an amazing area with giant redwoods and rivers running through. There is a swimming hole in Henry Cowell called Garden of Eden, which tends to be a popular spot among the UCSC students. However, when it’s cold in January, I tend to get the place to myself. I started the morning just reading by the river under the redwood trees as the sun started to make its way over to me. The water levels were very high from recent rains which also makes the current much stronger than other times of the year. Always be careful swimming in strong currents, hold onto something and be careful not to let the current take you downstream if it doesn’t shallow out. I weighed my options of jumping in and it was too cold early in the morning, so I went on to my next hike. After a windy drive through towering redwoods, I got to the West side of the UCSC campus. The campus has two lots that are free on weekends, West remote and East remote. The campus is surrounded by state parks on 3 sides so there are many trails you can do from each lot. From the West remote parking lot, I went to Wilder State Park where I have a hike I typically do this time of year. When I was a student I also spent a lot of time in these areas so I know it very well without a map. From West remote, crossing Empire Grade Road, there is a huge field before the redwoods. The field is usually vibrant green and sometimes poppy blooms depending on the time of year. I usually walk down the field, along the forest line until I get to a farm gate, then turn into the redwoods. From there, the trail goes down into a redwood canyon carved by a river running through. There is a log crossing there, which I always force myself to do because I find it quite nerve racking. I enjoy facing my fears head on (in a safe manner) so I always come back to this. The forest is so wonderfully quiet, just the sound of rustling leaves and a running stream. If you continue up past the log crossing, there is a kiln structure and some more open fields.

After my morning in the forest, I went to New Leaf, a great (but boujee) grocery store that is used to live next to. They have a great deli sandwich section, so I grabbed one and headed up the coast! Route 1 between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay is fairly rural with not a lot of homes or services, but has many places to hike, explore and swim. Depending on the time of the year, tides, and what I’m feeling, there are a lot of spots I love frequenting. Since it is January, which is not only king tide season but also elephant seal mating season when they gather around Año Nuevo State Park. You can pay to get into the park and even book a walking tour to see the elephant seals, but as someone who learned about this as a broke college student, I usually park and enter for free from Victoria Beach just South of the park entrance. You have a pretty good chance between November and February each year to see the Elephant seals around Año Nuevo, but nothing is guaranteed. This time around when I got down to the beach there weren’t any seals, but the beach is a great place to look at rocks as there are a lot of fossilized shells in the rocks there which can be very interesting to look at. As the sun started to lower, I headed to my favorite beach to look at tide pools, and not too far from Año Nuevo (I’ve also seen elephant seals at but not as often), Greyhound Rock. This beach has a parking lot with bathrooms and picnic tables, and is a popular overnight spot for vanlifers and car campers (and homeless people so just be aware, although it’s generally a hippy group). To get down to the beach there is a somewhat steep but short walk down a paved path. At the bottom of the path, from huge swells the stairs have been washed out so there are makeshift ways to get down. If you struggle with big steps down, have knee issues, or struggle with balance I would suggest having a buddy to go with to help you down that last section. Once down, there is a huge stretch of sandy beach before the cliffs that you can walk back and forth on, passing exposed tide pools along the way. The actual Greyhound Rock is easy to recognize as it’s huge and right as the bottom of the beach, the tide pools surrounding it are very popular. If you want some more seclusion, if you walk north on the beach there is another great set of tide pools not too far up. This beach has the most beautiful backdrop to looking in the tide pools. I used to come here often when in college to go and count how many starfish I could find, so I played that game with myself again. I lost count past 20 but I likely saw 40-50 starfish my first evening there.

Knowing that I was meeting up with some friends in town for dinner, I drove down to Natural Bridges to watch the end of sunset and have service to make plans with friends.

I car camped up highway 1 along the beach that night and started my next day heading to Pigeon Point Lighthouse. In January the yellow sourgrass flowers bloom like crazy along the coast leaving blankets of yellow. Near the lighthouse there are multiple areas with my flowers. I stopped to make some oatmeal for breakfast and enjoyed the view as it started to warm up.

From there I headed to Swanton Berry Farm, also along Highway 1, North of Santa Cruz, for some coffee and fruit. Except of course they had chocolate covered strawberries so I got that too. This is a very cute family owned farm, at the right time of year you can pick your own strawberries, they have a play area for kids and are located on the bluffs above the ocean in a beautiful area. From Swanton, I headed back to Garden of Eden, determined to get my cold plunge in. This time I go it’s midday and there’s plenty of people there, but the great thing about Garden of Eden is that you can climb and swim to different areas of the river to get some privacy. So I crossed the boulders going up the river and found a sun spot nobody was hanging in. It was quite cold and the current was very strong but it was very worth it to take a dip. Be careful when the current is this strong to hold on so you don’t get taken downstream over rocks and branches!

After enjoying the Garden of Eden and taking my windy drive through the redwood mountains down to the coast, I headed back to Greyhound Rock beach. As the tide is still getting lower, I went to the picnic tables off of the parking lot and made some ramen for a late lunch. Once I headed down to the beach, I knew I wanted to explore a new area of the tide pools so I walked along the beach for a while deciding where to go. Starfish only move so much in a single day so going to the same area would be seeing a lot of the same starfish and I wanted to see new ones. After going up the beach a bit I find another great section of tide pools with an insane amount of starfish, more than the ones the day before. At one point I was standing on a rock and had about 40 starfish within my field of vision. It was fantastic, and I stayed at the beach until it was dark enough to need my flashlight to get back up the trail after watching a beautiful sunset. (And yes, of course I did my nails for the tide pools). I then headed to meet some friends at one of my favorite places to get dinner in Santa Cruz, Akira! 

Camping along the 1 again, I actually take my time waking up and appreciating everything I’ve been able to do this weekend. I was really able to get out of my own head and just appreciate the moment. After journaling for a bit, I started my journey back South. On holiday weekends, it’s always worth leaving to avoid the crazy traffic getting back in to LA.

*A note of something I learned after this trip. There is something called Sea Star Wasting Syndrome that is devastating the starfish populations in warmer waters. This has been working its way up the California coast, causing many star fish to die and others to move north. Hence, why I saw such a large amount of star fish this trip.