Saturday April 20th, 2013
I hope you are all having a beautiful Saturday today! Then again every day is a beautiful day. Today’s little get out and about hike is located at the Año Nuevo State Park, a few miles north of Santa Cruz. This park follows the coast and it is filled with elephant seals!!!
Call it luck or whatever, this second hike was freaking beautiful as well! The day was not only clear and blue, but it was also very warm by the end. At first I was very worried that it might actually be a sucky day. The weather forecast had called for some rain and as we drove towards Santa Cruz it seemed our day was going to be covered by grey skies. Yet, as we approached, the clouds began moving into the mountains and the coast cleared up. By the time our hike was over it was blue all over and it was super warm! I could have not ask for a better day to see some awesome elephant seals.
Año Nuevo Point is where a rookery of elephant seals gather, from December to March, to do their annual social thing. Moms come and have their babies, stay with them for four weeks, then go mate, and head back to the ocean. The male elephant seals are not as friendly during this time since it is mating season and are battling with other males for good spots. The weaners (baby elephant seals) hang around the beach, after being with their moms for 4 weeks, and learn how to swim before heading out into the ocean.
You can actually see elephant seals year round since they travel on their own and come upon the beach at their own time. After 3-4 months (after the mating season) they come back to molt their skin. At that time the males are a lot friendlier with each other.
- Molting away.
- Doing a proper job of sunbathing.
- The ranger though this one got so far off from the beach because she was being chased by a male. Boys!
- Elephant Seals chilling
It was so awesome seeing these animals! I mean I will give it to you that they are just laying there sunbathing, but they are amazing nonetheless. It was so cool seeing the babies practicing their swimming skills by ocean. Only going in a few feet in and swimming side to side. Did you know they are born without knowing how to swim?! This actually results in a few of them dying because they drown. I was sadden to learn that 😦 .
There is also an island at Año Nuevo Point in which the people that guarded the lighthouse lived on. They built a fence around their house in order to keep the seals outside of it. I thought that was funny. Now it is taken over by seals and they have made it their home.
Anywhoos…hope you like the pics. I was using my phone and its not a great picture taker. I have some in my camera, but missing the cord to connect it to my computer . I tell ya. Lol
Have a great weekend.
xoxo,
Bianca
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These details are from the Moon Book: 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Name: Año Nuevo Point Trail
Level: Easy
Distance: 3.0 miles
Time: 2.5 hours
Elevation: Negligible
“Summary: A trip to Año Nuevo in the winter months provides a show you’ll never forget” -Ann Marie Brown (Author)
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P.S. I was playing with the Create Gallery option from wordpress so forgive me for the variety. I just wanted to see how it all worked out. I like the slideshow option one. The small pictures if you click on them it will take you to see them in a slideshow and bigger. 😀