Point Lobos State Reserve

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is one of the most biologically rich marine environments on the California coast. Jacques Cousteau called it one of the world's great dive sites. The reserve's trails thread through 300-year-old Monterey cypress groves and past granite coves where sea otters float in the kelp, harbor seals haul out on rocks, and Brandt's cormorants nest in spring. A small day-use fee applies; parking fills early on weekends.

OPERATOR STORY

Point Lobos has been protected as a California State Reserve since 1933, with the marine protected area extended offshore in 1960. California State Parks manages the reserve under strict carrying capacity limits.