Coronavirus April 2021 Update: Please note that some information in the posts may have changed and some places may be closed.
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

California Through My Lens

California Travel, Food, Hiking & Road Trips

  • Start Here
  • Explore
    • Beaches
    • Bizarre
    • Caves
    • Food
    • Hikes
    • Historical Structures
    • Natural Wonders
    • Waterfalls
  • Drive
    • El Camino Real
    • Highway 395
    • LA to Las Vegas
    • Pacific Coast Highway
    • Route 66
  • National Parks
    • Channel Islands
    • Death Valley
    • Joshua Tree
    • Lassen Volcanic
    • Pinnacles
    • Redwoods
    • Sequoia & Kings Canyon
    • Yosemite
  • Cities
    • Los Angeles
    • Palm Springs
    • Sacramento
    • San Diego
    • San Francisco
  • Resources
    • Day Trip Ideas
    • Road Trip eBooks
    • Hotels
    • My Favorite Travel Products
    • Travel Videos
  • Browse By …
    • Map Of Locations
    • Cities
    • Counties
    • National Parks
    • State Parks

Ano Nuevo State Park: Elephant Seal Viewing Up Close

Last Modified: April 28, 2020

20shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

While driving along Pacific Coast Highway, you will have a lot of opportunities to see elephant seals, such as in San Simeon and Point Reyes. Still, for the best up close and personal viewing, I would recommend Ano Nuevo State Park. This park, located 30 minutes north of Santa Cruz, features miles of trails that let you see elephant seals in their natural habitat and not from a viewing platform. For me, it felt a little like a safari but for elephant seals, as you never knew what you would see when you crossed over the next dune. Here is all the information.

Ano Nuevo State Park-6

Details

  • Cost: $10 to enter the park and $7 for the tour (winter)
  • Time: It takes about 2.5 hours
  • You can’t go without a tour in the winter since there are so many seals
  • This information is from my visit in 2016

Getting There

You can find Ano Nuevo State Park along Pacific Coast Highway; it has a sign, so it is hard to miss. Head north from Santa Cruz past Davenport, and you will see it.

Visiting Seasons

Ano Nuevo State Park-14

Summer – During the summer, you can hike the trail at your own pace and without a group. There are fewer seals to see, and there are docents that watch vital areas so that you do not get too close to the seals. It is a fun place to bring a picnic lunch, hike out to the seals, then just enjoy watching them interact with each other.

Winter – During the winter, there are tons of seals here giving birth and nursing their young (it is closed for most of December). Because of that, you are not able to go out to their area without being part of a tour. The tours are about 2.5 hours long, and they take you on the 3-mile round-trip hike to the elephant seals. The tour is what I did, so the information in this post is based on being on a tour.

The Hike

Ano Nuevo State Park-2

After arriving at the park, I was able to get on the last tour of the day, which was 2:45 PM. It cost $10 to enter the park and then $7 for the tour. I was early, so I headed over to Pie Ranch across the street for a slice of pie (excellent) then headed back into the park to wait for my tour.

Ano Nuevo State Park-1

The tours start from the visitors center, which is a grand old farmhouse building and which has a lot of information about the elephant seals. In the visitors center, I learned that over 10,000 elephant seals come here during the year. They didn’t use to hang out here because of the grizzly bears, but when the bears left, they came back.

Ano Nuevo State Park-3

After gathering for the tour, we set out on a mile hike to the small holding building where we met our guide.

Ano Nuevo State Park-4

This hike was beautiful as it hugged the coast and took you over rolling hills and through a small forest.

Ano Nuevo State Park-5

When we met up with our guide, he showed us the skulls of many different animals and how they compared to elephant seals. This lead to an interesting discussion that killed time while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up.

Ano Nuevo State Park-7

Our guide then started us on the trail and stopped us many times on the way to tell people about the seals and their lives.

Ano Nuevo State Park-8

I learned that the seals could swim all the way up to Alaska to feed then come back to this same beach every year to give birth, which is fascinating. The seals can swim down to 2 miles below the surface of the ocean and can stay there for up to 2 hours.

Ano Nuevo State Park-9

Our tour then finally took us into the elephant seal area, which was a section of sand dunes. The seals were spread out on all of the dunes, and you could easily see hundreds of them by just scanning the horizon.

Ano Nuevo State Park-11

For the next 45 minutes, the tour took us around plants, and up and over dunes while we searched for these unique creatures. It was a lot of fun as it was a safari-like experience where we paused to see seals and tried not to disturb them.

Ano Nuevo State Park-10

The young seals were even practicing their swimming in some of the small ponds around the area as well, which was fun to see. After exploring for a while with our guide, we headed back out of the dunes and made our way back to the visitors center.

Ano Nuevo State Park-12

I do wish I would have been able to go in the summer when I could have explored at my own pace, but the winter is still a fantastic time to visit this park and see these animals. I highly recommend you carve out some time to visit Ano Nuevo; it is truly a unique California experience and one that you will not forget.

Filed Under: Northern California, Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Stops, State Parks, Wildlife Tagged With: pescadero, San Mateo County

Interested in supporting this blog?

This blog is simply a hobby and labor of love for me. If you have enjoyed the posts consider sharing it with your friends. I want as many people as possible to explore this state and you can help by letting them know about all of the great spots!

Join the Newsletter

Subscribe for the four day welcome series and to get the latest content every month.

    We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

    About JoshMc

    Thanks for checking out the blog, I am happy to be sharing my adventures with you! You can get to know me by reading my about me, which includes a video and additional information on the site, myself and my full disclosure. Also, follow along on Twitter here or read all of my posts on this blog here.

    Primary Sidebar

    About

    Josh from California Through My Lens My name is Josh, and for the last 10 years, I have been exploring as much of California as I possibly can. This site is a collection of those adventures to encourage you to get out and explore California for yourself. More about me.

    Popular Posts

    The Big List of Strange, Fun & Unique Attractions in Southern California
    Pacific Coast Highway: Where to Stop on Your Road Trip
    Top Hiking Trails in Southern California
    Fun Stops on the Drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
    24 Things to do in Downtown LA
    17 Things to do in Lake Tahoe
    Donner Pass, Summit Tunnel Hike: Old Abandoned Railroad

    Categories

    Other Resources


    Footer

    Search the site

    Additional Information

    Privacy Policy

    About Us

    Copyright California Through My Lens, LLC © 2021