Point Lobos is one of our favourite places in the vicinity of Santa Cruz, and one that we’ve visited on several occasions. The name comes from a rocky outcrop where the sound of “sea wolves” (sea lions) carries inland.
By happy coincidence, we arrived in time for a guided walk by a wonderfully knowledgable expat Brit, Peter Fletcher. We would never have guessed that a untidy heap of branches and foliage in the coastal scrub was the residence of a dusky-footed woodrat. Or that the red rust covering branches of Monterey cypresses by the coast was a rare form of algae called Trentepohlia that only thrives in areas where the air is extremely pure and unpolluted.
Peter pointed out that the Monterey cypress casts a lot of shade, and we could confirm that they were also pretty effective in blocking out the very weak sunlight on a misty, driech day. So we shivered. But it was worth it.