Ano Nuevo State Reserve

My Foothill College class enjoyed a pleasant, though mostly overcast day, at Ano Nuevo State Reserve on the southern San Mateo County coast.

Ano Nuevo is famous for its elephant seals, which are the largest members of the seal family. Most people visit from December to March during the mating and pupping season. Male elephant seals arrive in early December to establish breeding hierarchy and are followed in late December by the females, who join the harems of dominant males. From December 15 through March you must be on an organized tour.

This fascinating peninsula is worth visiting all year, and in fact, can be most enjoyable when most of the seals and their hordes of admirers are gone. There are elephant seals at Ano Nuevo nearly all year. In October the juveniles arrive to strengthen their bones by moving around on land for a month or so. We saw several hundred juvenile seals, mostly males, hanging around the beach at North Point. Some of the older juvenile males were engaged in mock combat to prepare for the mating battles to come when they reach maturity.

There is a lot more to see at Ano Nuevo than elephant seals. We also saw California sea lions on the island, two cavorting sea otters, and lots of pelicans and other birds. We stopped at an Indian shell mound to discuss how the native people thrived in this abundant place. We walked about 5.5 miles over mostly level terrain, some it sandy. Then we had lunch at Cove Beach before heading back to the parking lot.

TO GET THERE... the main entrance is on the west side of Highway 1 about 19 miles north of Santa Cruz and about 23 miles south of Half Moon Bay.