Close To Home (Santa Cruz, CA)

Coastal Terrace Prairie is a pretty cool little wild life sanctuary about 15 miles north of Santa Cruz, CA. 

A hand full of parking spaces can be found in a little dirt turnout on the west side of HI way 1.  A second entrance can be found a half mile south, across the hi way from the entrance road to the small resort Costanoa https://costanoa.com/

This is a great place to take a several mile, back and forth, hike or to drop down to the wide expansive beach (when it’s not full high tide).   It’s an easy walk, flat, and beautiful.  Perfect for kids, romantics, bird watchers, flower gazers and simple reflection.  If I was a person that could throw up an easel and paint, I would seriously consider doing it here.

The native grasses change color and dance with the light all year long, so visiting once is never enough.  The hike moves across and then along the waters edge of the coastal prairie.  Every so often there are cuts in the land that drop to the sea.  Each forming its own little framed vignette.

I have also seen many cool birds here including an Osprey carrying a fish or this here Turkey Vulture watching some Pelicans fly by.  

This hike was a little sad as the recent fires had severely burned the area. As you can see in this photo, the road I am walking on was literaly the fire break. 

And here, looking to the west you can see the devastated redwoods which were green and lush just a few weeks ago.

The good part of the story is that this land that will soon recover. 

Down the trail is this massive Tree surrounded by logs and burls twisted by the wind. If you go left you can easily access the huge beach. If you go right you embark on a nice little journey along that undulates along the ocean cliff.

As you walk along the ridge of the trail, there are lots of little cuts in the land, shaped by water run off and perhaps pounded now and then by big surf. They are full of unique plants and little birds that reside in each one. The comprise little tiny worlds, punctuated by the ever changing backdrop and sound track that is the pacific ocean.

Before you know it you are a long way from the Tree.

Time to head back, things always look different in the opposite direction. I hope you make it here some day. It’s well worth seeing and nice to contemplate how prairies like this one, still rich with native grasses and plants, once dominated the entire west coast of central California. Many have gone to agriculture and others to development but a few remain, much like they were hundreds of years ago.