Saturday, September 1, 2012

Jug Handle State Reserve


View Jug Handle State Reserve - September 2012 in a larger map

What
  • View of Pacific Ocean
  • Beach
  • Coastal hiking trails
  • Deer

More Info
  • Free parking
  • Free admission
  • Trails are not very well marked

Although the GPS did not take us to the exact spot, clear signs on CA1 highway led us to the right place. After parking the car, we headed on the trail that splits into two, the one to the right leads you to the beach and the one to the left leads you to the trails that run along the coastal bluffs.

View of a bridge and the lagoon from the Jug Handle Beach

We took the trail to the right and within 5-10 minutes we were in the white sands of the beautiful, family-friendly beach. A small lagoon connects to the beach. We noticed a tenacious pelican curled up on the beach sands, completely undaunted by any of the humans around.

View of Jug Handle Beach from the top of the coastal bluff

After spending some time at the beach, we continued on our trail back to the parking lot to take the other trail to walk along the coastline. One can see the beach at Jug Handle from the top of the coastal bluff and as we walked along the trail we noticed several hole in the rock formations. Our jaws dropped looking at the beauty of the California coastline and the shades of blue in the water. The water was so clear that we could see the ocean bed. The clear sunny day, revealing the shades of colors in the ocean and added to the beauty of the Pacific.

View of the ocean from the coastal bluff

There are trail markers along the way and they are marked with numbers. However, I don’t believe the numbers mean anything at all. They were just so haphazard. We simply continued walking on the trail assuming that it would form a loop and take us back to the parking lot. All of a sudden, we heard rustling sounds in the bushes nearby. Looking around, we noticed a herd of deer peeking at us. The deer were camouflaged in the dry brown bushes and it was so cute to see their two cute ears prominently sticking out. We continued walking slowly towards the deer, but the intimidated animals hopped off.

Deer

The so-called trail was way too narrow and bushy; there were certain times when we did not even know whether it was a proper trail. We continued walking and walking, just hoping that we would reach the parking lot soon. Finally we saw the cars on CA1 from a distance. Phew! What a relief! However, the trail did not lead us directly to the parking lot, it led us somewhere on CA1 and we walked for a bit to reach the Jug Handle parking lot.

We returned to the Jug Handle State Reserve the next day to watch the sunset.

Sunset from a viewpoint

Tips
  • Take the coastal trail, but do not continue on the trail that forms a loop; the trail is narrow, bushy and just not worth it
  • Excellent viewpoint to see the sunset

Useful Resources

Nearby Locations

1 comment:

  1. The sunset is got snapped beautifully....

    As you 've narrated the herd of deer are slightly noticeable!

    ReplyDelete