Natural Bridges State Beach

This weekend we headed to Santa Cruz to enjoy the perfect weather. We decided to visit Natural Bridges State Beach. The small beach is noted for its natural bridge rock formation. Its a nice place for hanging out, playing in the sand or viewing shore birds. Further north along the beach there are tidepools for viewing various sea life such as starfish and sea urchins. There are lots of  picnic tables with shade just off the sand with restrooms nearby. Natural Bridges is probably most well known for its Monarch Butterfly grove. The grove of eucalyptus trees provides a home for the monarchs during the winter months from mid October through mid February. As many as 100,000 monarchs come each winter. Across from the visitor center in the park there is a handicap accesible boardwalk that leads to an observation area for viewing the butterflies. Currently most of the butterflies are gone for the season. As we began our walk we saw several monarchs fluttering about here and there but nothing like what you would see earlier in the winter. After the boardwalk we took the Monarch Trail and looped around the eucalyptus grove and back to the visitor center. While on the trail we saw a few more butterflies and several birds. A quick walk through the visitor center and we headed to the tide pools where we were able to catch a glimpse of some crabs and sea urchins. After the tide pools we headed to the beach to hang out. The weather was amazing, best we had ever experienced in Santa Cruz. It was around 74 degrees with no wind at all. After relaxing on the beach we headed to Capitola where we ate dinner and then to New Brighton State Beach where we camped for the night. Sunday morning we awoke early and went to Wilder Ranch State Park to take advantage of the still great weather. We went for a trail run on the Old Cove Landing Trail towards the ocean and along the bluffs, where the views of the coastline are amazing.

Natural Bridges State Beach
Directions: Take Swift Avenue west from Highway 1, or follow West Cliff Drive north along the in-town bluffs until it ends at Natural Bridges. Entrance fee is $10.