Natural Bridges State Beach

The arches formed the way most sea arches do, where relentless waves found a weakness in a projecting headland and drilled straight through it, leaving a bridge of rock standing above the water. The mudstone here is soft, so the process was fast by geological standards, and just as fast to undo.

The outermost bridge fell long ago, and the middle one collapsed in a winter storm in 1980, leaving only the innermost arch standing today. In time it too will fall, and the sea will start the process again on a new headland. Watching the surf pound through the surviving arch is a reminder that this coast is always being remade.

Each fall, monarch butterflies from across the western United States migrate to a scattering of groves along the California coast to spend the winter, and Natural Bridges is one of the best. The butterflies cluster on the branches of a eucalyptus grove in a sheltered gully, hanging in great gray-brown drapes that look like dead leaves until the sun warms them and they open into a shimmer of orange.

On a sunny winter day the grove fills with butterflies drifting and mating in the light. Western monarch numbers have crashed dramatically in recent decades, which makes the clusters here both precious and fragile. A raised boardwalk lets visitors watch without disturbing them, and volunteer naturalists are often on hand to explain the migration.

At low tide, a broad rocky reef emerges below the cliffs, honeycombed with pools left behind by the retreating water. Each pool is its own small world: purple and ochre sea stars, green anemones that close around a touch, hermit crabs, sculpins, and clusters of mussels and barnacles built to survive the pounding surf.

This is one of the more accessible tide-pool reefs on the Santa Cruz coast, a favorite for school groups and families. The rule is to look and not take, to step on bare rock rather than living animals, and to put back anything you turn over, so the pools stay as rich for the next low tide.

This shore is the homeland of the Ohlone people, who lived along the Santa Cruz coast for thousands of years, harvesting the same tide pools and the runs of fish, their descendants part of the region's living communities today.

Winter is the signature season, when the monarchs are in the grove and gray whales pass offshore. Spring brings wildflowers to the coastal bluffs and low tides good for pooling. Summer draws beachgoers, though coastal fog is common. Time a visit for a sunny winter midday and you can see the arch, the tide pools, and the butterflies all in a single easy walk.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.