View Friends of Elephant Seal in a larger map
What
- Rookery for thousands of elephant seals
More Info
- Free parking and free admission
- No restrooms
After
spending a few hours in Hearst Castle, while driving north on CA-1, we noticed
a signboard that read “Friends of Elephant Seal”. I was skeptical about finding
any elephant seals during this time of the year, but as we noticed people
cluttered there, we thought there might be just one or two seals. With no
expectation at all we drove inside the parking lot.
And
whoa! Thousands of seals were basking on the beach sands. Apparently that was
the molting season for these sea animals. There is a 0.5 mile trail that takes you
along the beach, but we could see thousands of seals right from a vantage point
in the parking lot itself.
As
the name sounds, these seals were humungous and it was fun watching these seals
swing their flippers to splash sand on to their bodies. This helps in keeping
these cold blooded animals warm.
One
cannot walk down to the beach to touch the seals; but you can get a pretty
close up view from the trail itself.
Useful Resources
Nearby Locations