Estero Bluffs State Park

By the time we got around to hiking Estero Bluffs State Park, we had hiked Montaña de Oro State Park, Los Osos Oaks Reserve, AND kayaked Morro Bay so we really didn't think anything could WOW us at this point in our Morro Bay trip. I pretty much had to drag my family out for more exercise by this 4th day, late afternoon on a very busy trip. I told them, "Let's just drive up to Cayucos, we don't have to get out of the car." I always say that, and we always get out of the car :)


So we drove just north of Cayucos along the Highway 1 to a turnout on the west side of the road across from San Geronimo Road. There is a large windmill and thick grasses identifying this as the state park. Here's what you're looking for: 

This hike turned out to be their favorite of the four we went on, and from the different answers that I'm getting, I guess they liked it best based on the large number of animals that we saw. For me, I liked the combination of the soft grassy walking surface coupled with some beach walking on our return loop. Just make sure you check your tide chart ahead of time or it may be entirely bluff walking for you. We were there about halfway between low and high tide, and we still had a little bit of wet walking down on the beach. Not bad though. You start the trail heading straight through the grasses towards the ocean, and down some short stairs to the beach. On the far right side of the beach is where the creek enters the ocean and there continues the trail up the hill. Here's what you're looking for:

From here, you're following a narrow trail along the bluff, rather close or eroded away at some points, with tall grasses on either side of the trail and meadows of wildflowers so pretty, especially in springtime. A gopher snake slithered by into the grass in front of us and numerous lizards scattered around. You can faintly see Highway 1 to the east from the trail, with people cruising along to Pismo Beach and Hearst Castle and other resort areas along this stretch of the central coast. To me there is such peacefulness along these bluffs, with a break from houses against the beach and just fields of grass, rocks, and ocean. You can keep going for 3.5 miles on this trail, but to do a loop, we found a little area where the bluff had eroded and followed it down to the beach, and then turned left to walk along the beach back to the trailhead. Here, we encountered sea anemones, hermit crabs, sea gulls, a line of pelicans, and even a haul of harbor seals on the rocks right off the coast. It was a beautiful walk.

Length: 2 miles for the loop described
Elevation gain: 50 feet
Time it took us: 2 hours
Dogs: No
Fees: None