Beaches, Butterflies and Brussels Sprouts

Families love a day at the beach in Santa Cruz. The town’s rebuilding efforts, necessitated by the 1989 earthquake, have not overwhelmed the funky, laid-back atmosphere. The mellow mile-long beach is most relaxing; cruising the Boardwalk is fun for kids of all ages, and riding the world-famous Giant Dipper Roller Coaster is, like, totally awesome .

And for the family that likes to hike, there are a couple of close-by natural attractions--Natural Bridges State Beach and Wilder Ranch State Historic Park--with lots to do and see.

Until October, 1989, when the devastating Loma Prieta Earthquake shook Santa Cruz, it was easy to see why one of the town’s beaches was named Natural Bridges. Unfortunately, this strong temblor doomed the last bridge.

While its offshore bridges are but a memory, this park offers plenty of other natural attractions. A eucalyptus grove in the center of the park hosts the largest concentration of monarch butterflies in America. The park has an extensive interpretive program from October through March, when the monarchs winter at the grove.

Another park highlight is a superb rocky tide-pool area, habitat for mussels, limpets, barnacles and sea urchins.

Directions to trail head: Natural Bridges State Beach is in Santa Cruz off California 1 at 2531 W. Cliff Drive. Follow the signs from the highway.

The hike: Signed Monarch Trail begins near the park’s small interpretive center. Soon the trail splits; the leftward fork leads to a monarch observation platform.

During spring and summer, the monarchs--easily the country’s most recognized butterflies--leave their coastal California birthplace and disperse across America. Winters, however, are spent on this frost-free coast--from Santa Cruz to northern Baja.

When you head back to the visitors center, detour down to the beach. Just up the shore is Secret Lagoon, the domain of ducks and great blue herons. Farther up the beach is one of the Central Coast’s truly superb tide-pool areas.

*

At Wilder Ranch State Historic Park, on the coast just north of Santa Cruz, it seems that not one stone has gone unpreserved.

The Brussels sprouts fields are in an agricultural preserve, the former Wilder Ranch in a cultural preserve, and Wilder Beach is a natural preserve for the benefit of nesting snowy plovers. All preserves are within Wilder Ranch State Historic Park, which protects some 4,000 acres of beach, bluffs and inland canyons.

The ranch buildings, barn, gardens and Victorian house still stand and are open to public tours. Docents dressed in 19th-Century clothing show you around the grounds of the old dairy. The historic complex and visitor center are open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to the guided historic walks, the park boasts Old Landing Cove Trail, a bluff-top path that--as its name suggests--leads to a historic cove. From the 1850s to the 1890s, schooners dropped anchor here to load lumber. Observant hikers can spot iron rings, which supported landing chutes, still embedded in the cliffs.

Brussels sprouts fans will see more of this vegetable than they ever dreamed possible: Fully 12% of our nation’s production is grown in the state park.

Directions to trail head: From Santa Cruz, head north on Coast Highway four miles to the signed turnoff for Wilder Ranch State Park, on the ocean side of the highway. Follow the park road to its end at the large parking lot, where the signed trail begins.

The hike: The path, an old ranch road, heads coastward. Signs warn you not to head left to Wilder Beach (where the snowy plovers dwell) and discourage you from heading right, where pesticides are used on the fields of Brussels sprouts.

The trail offers a bird’s-eye view of the surf surging into a sea cave, then turns north and follows the cliff edge.

The trial dead-ends at Old Landing Cove, so you must return the way you came.

*

Monarch, Old Landing Cove Trails WHERE/DISTANCE: Monarch Trail, Natural Bridges State Beach, 3/4 of a mile round trip; Old Landing Cove Trail, 2 miles round trip, jWilder Ranch State Historic Park, Santa Cruz coast. TERRAIN: Beach, Lagoon, eucalyptus grove; coastal bluffs, both wild and cultivated. HIGHLIGHTS: Largest concentration of monarch butterflies, superb tide-pool exploration: historic dairy ranch, plenty of bruwwels sprouts, dramatic bluffs. DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Santa Cruz Coast District, 101 Madeline Drive, Aptos, Calif. 95003, (408) 688-3241.