Over the hill from Silicon Valley lies the coastal area of Pescadero. Located about 20 minutes south of Half Moon Bay, it is well worth the drive. Recently, my husband and I spent a day exploring the Pescadero State Beach, the Pescadero Marsh, and the little town of Pescadero.
Pescadero State Beach
Pescadero State Beach packs a lot into it’s mile-long strand. It has both a white-sand beach and a rocky beach. There are also coves and tide pools (check the NOAA tide table for Half Moon Bay). This is a great beach to look for wildlife, including whales, seals, dolphins, and birds. It can also be a good fishing spot.
A ranger said that after Labor-Day weekend, hardly anyone goes there, “because of the cold.” Yes, it was cold when my husband and I visited, yet it was also clean, refreshing, and invigorating. And there were hardly any people about. Besides, in Autumn along the San Mateo Coast, the sun usually comes out by the afternoon.
Where To Park
Pescadero beach has three parking lots. The northern lot, closest to Half Moon Bay, charges a parking fee, but the middle and southern lots do not. All three parking lots have pit toilets.
The advantage of paying to park in the northern lot is that it brings you closest to the wide sandy area of Pescadero Beach, and it is on the north side of Pescadero Creek. However, the middle lot gets you closer to the safe crossing area–crossing under the highway–to Pescadero Marsh. (You can reach this same crossing area from the northern parking lot, but you must walk about a mile down the beach to reach it.) So I recommend parking in the middle lot.
Accessing The Pescadero Marsh
The Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve is best reached from the middle parking lot. Walk down the stairs toward the highway. Turn left and take the path alongside the highway that takes you over the Pescadero Creek bridge. After the bridge, turn left and walk down the stairs to the beach. You can then walk back under the highway bridge (alongside Pescadero Creek) to reach the marsh. This access point can be hard to find, but it is much safer than running across the highway. There is a good sign in the middle parking lot that tells visitors exactly how to find the crossing point.
Pescadero Marsh Trails
We walked the Sequoia Audubon Trail until it ran out, then backtracked and walked the North Pond Trail. (The Butano Trail can only be reached from a parking lot on Pescadero Road, so we skipped that.)
The views from our trails were beautiful. Though only a mile or two long, there was much to see. Pickleweed dyed the marsh red, a wide variety of plants added texture, and flowers dotted the landscape.
We saw more flowers than birds. But we did see a few northern shovelers, turkey vultures, and white-tailed kites. There will probably be more birds arriving in late Fall.
The Town of Pescadero
Our morning walk got us hungry, so we returned to the car and drove two minutes south on HWY 1,then turned inland to the Pescadero Creek Road. Two miles later we reached downtown Pescadero–the Stage Road.
We thought the tiny town of Pescadero (population 595 in the 2020 census) would be a non-centralized ranching town. Actually, it is oriented toward tourists who frequent the town, mostly on summer weekends. This means the Stage Road is lined with cute boutique shops, a terrific deli/grocery store, a wonderful coffee shop, and an inn. There are also a few 19th-century homes bordering Stage Road, and a church built in 1867. The town is charming.
After lunch at Arcangeli’s, a walk down Stage Road, and soft-serve ice cream at the Sunshine Coffee Shop, it was time to leave Pescadero. I wanted to show my husband the Pigeon Point Lighthouse (see blog). We did that, then returned to Silicon Valley via Half Moon Bay’s HWY 92.
Of course, so near to October, we had to stop for fresh produce and pumpkins! I highly recommend the farm stand called HV Produce. It is to the right on HWY 92, before you reach Lemos Farm.
I hope my readers will have a chance to explore Pescadero. Just don’t tell too many people–it’s our secret!
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Ha ha it pays to have a spare blanket in the car! Glad you enjoyed the blog. Thanks for commenting!
Last weekend I forgot to bring a jacket to Long Beach in Plymouth, MA. (I remembered the sand toys and castle building gear for our grandson, but forgot that it might be chilly.) Thankfully I had a blanket stowed in my trunk. You and I were navy blue blanket twins on opposite sides of our country. I love the funky little shops, beach & pumpkin patches of Pescadero! Shhh. It’s our secret.