Beach Walk, I did 2.7 mi, but varies
130 ft elevation gain (varies, but there is a little downhill to reach beach)
Hiked 3/10/25
A leisurely stroll along Pebble beach outside of Crescent City yields impressive views of Castle Rock Island Refuge, a large island which harbors a multitude of bird species and is a destination among birders. The area is also known to have good tide-pooling, although in March I didn’t see much. Apparently also good for rockhounding, I have never had much luck right here the few times I’ve visited.
An unidentified bird flies in front of the camera with Castle Rock Island behind it under cloudy skies.
Seagulls mill around the outgoing tide on the shoreline in front of Castle Rock Island.
A group of birds may be seen flying to the left of Castle Rock Island under a gray sky. Seagulls swarm between the island and the shore as the tide nears low.
I live in the Los Angeles area and there are flights between Hawthorne and Crescent City — I’ve been dying to go! I had no idea the ocean there was this impressive. Very beautiful photos, thanks for posting them!
You should absolutely get there sometime if you can, there is such a great mix of wildly different sights. There is some truly epic coastline around there. If you go and have a little extra time, heading north into Oregon has some really great coast as well and a lot of the views going that way are as you rise up above the cliffs along 101.
