Point Lobos State Reserve

Our last day of the honeymoon, we wanted to visit Point Lobos State Reserve. Since it wasn't going to be an all day adventure, we had a leisurely morning eating breakfast and then checking out downtown Monterey, which we hadn't done yet. It's in a different area than Cannery Row. We didn't find much of interest so we headed over to Pacific Grove to check out their downtown area.

We discussed having lunch at the Mission Ranch in Carmel, which I understand is owned by Clint Eastwood. However, we decided to eat at Peppers in downtown Pacific Grove. It was recommended via tripadvisor and since we were there it was convenient. They had good Mexican food. A sign as you enter states that it's an old mason building and that it's not stable in case of an earthquake. As we eat, we realized the floor slanted down from the front of the restaurant to the back. Not thing food rolled off the table but it was noticeable. We'd go back again.

After lunch, we made it to Point Lobos State Reserve. It costs $10 for a car to enter and we drove to toward the Sea Lion Point Trail. I had read online that it was a good trail. Most of them are fairly short but the views are amazing! This particular trail was a short walk that went down to the water so you could walk on top of the rocks and watch the waves crash over them. Near the point, there is a small island where dozens of sea lions sun themselves. You can easily hear them barking when you're on the path.

Across the cove from Sea Lion Point, is the Cypress Grove Trail, which they say is another short, popular trail. It too is very nice and provides break taking views. Unlike the Sea Lion which goes down toward the ocean, this one goes up slightly so that you're standing on top of a cliff looking down over some other rocks. The whole path is lined with cypress trees. Which are interesting as well. They seem to take shape of the wind so many that we saw in Monterey area are bent over from the wind.

I looked at the map about which trail we could do next. They are short but I took time taking a lot of pictures. I wanted to the north shore or south shore trail, but my husband didn't want to walk that far. I convinced him we could a portion of the south shore trail and not the whole thing but when we got down there, the Bird Island Trail looked more interesting. At the 7 Mile Drive, they also have a similar stop which they describe as a snow cap rock which is really bird poop so I wondered if this was just going to be a rock with a bigger "snow cap."

This trail went between several coves so it was beautiful. We rounded one corner and there was a black sand beach with seals sunning themselves off in a distance. Another cove had rocks where holes had worn through from all the waves. I was also amazed at how blue the water was in this area. It was almost tropical! Maybe it was the time of year, but there wasn't a lot of birds on Bird Island (luckily).

Overall, a much better hike than what we had done in Big Sur. We will definitely visit Point Lobos State Reserve again.