Fantastic Moss Beach, Seal Cove, Tunnel of Cypress Trees and Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Half Moon Bay
by Sing Lin
September 9, 2023
Gorgeous tunnel of tall cypress trees viewed from the scenic Bluff Trail on top of the bluff above Moss Beach in northern part of Half Moon Bay in California. Maps of Bluff Trail can be seen here, here and here. It is amazing walking under the canopy of tall cypress trees and along the Bluff Trail. This is a hidden gem.
A magical canopy of cypress trees here creates a half-mile long tunnel on one side with beautiful ocean views on the other side of the dream like forest of cypress trees. Things trees know – Reach for the light. The tree leans into the sunny rays as if they were lovers in eternal trance in this tunnel of trees.
On a foggy day, the tunnel of cypress trees becomes even more beautiful as shown here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. The views of this tunnel of cypress trees from the other end of the tunnel can be seen here, here, here.
On Sunday August 27, 2023, we drove west from east side of San Francisco Bay area for about one hour to come to Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant to enjoy delicious seafood lunch in northern part of Half Moon Bay. After the lunch, we went out to enjoy hiking on the scenic Bluff Trail on the bluff/cliff high above the Moss Beach (Seal Cove) with fantastic views.
More views of the impressive Tunnel of Tall Cypress Trees can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
As you can see from these photos that this magic tunnel of cypress trees is a favored romantic venue for many young men to propose to their sweethearts for engagement and wedding.
Another magnificent and picturesque tunnel of cypress trees is in Point Reyes National Seashore as shown on my website here, and here. More beautiful photos of this magnificent Tunnel of Cypress Trees in Point Reyes with fantastic golden sun rays in the morning or late afternoon can be seen here, here.
Hiking the scenic Bluff Trail on the top of the bluff with Moss Beach at the bottom of the bluff. It's a nice walk to enjoy mother nature. The safety guard rail is near the edge of the high bluff/cliff. Pacific Ocean is on one side and the tall cypress forest is on the other side of this Bluff Trail.
Fantastic rugged coast line and endless Pacific Ocean as viewed from the scenic Bluff Trail high above the beach, the Seal Cove, and the ocean.
However, our visiting date of August 27, 2023 was a cloudy day with heavy overcast which dimmed the colors and limited the visibility of the wonderful views from the Bluff Trail.
If you come on a sunny day with blue sky and endless blue Pacific Ocean, the views from the scenic Bluff Trail will be much more beautiful as shown here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
The Moss Beach below the bluff/cliff and Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant and its parking lot on top of the bluff/cliff as viewed from the Bluff Trail.
One of several awesome cliff views!
People enjoying the dream-like forest of tall cypress trees
Dream-like forest of tall cypress trees. This place is breathtaking. It's one of those things you have to experience for yourself to understand and appreciate. More wonderful views of the cypress forest can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. You can lean against a tree, slipp into silence, and get lost in contemplation.
Kids love this "house" in the cypress forest
A steep stairway (Seal Cove Stairs) to go from the Bluff Trail down to Moss Beach.
Hiking along Bluff Trail
A view of some beach lovers enjoying Moss Beach below the bluff
Looking down to Moss Beach and ocean from Bluff Trail high above the beach.
I gazed in awe when I saw this forest of tall cypress trees for the first time. Trees are nature’s resilience through the ages. The enchantment that these super scenic Cypress Trees and Tunnel provoke is spiritual for me. I felt nothing but bliss in abundance.
A quick respite from the urban microcosm. No white noise of distant traffic, no transit trains, lawnmowers, and an omnipresent hum that seeps through the window.
Whenever I looked up, the trees seemed to tickle the blue sky and my eyes stuck. I hope this place will inspire you too as they do me.
There are lots of photo opportunities along the Bluff Trail and the hike is easy.
Hiking along Bluff Trail. I love this place. It is meditative, peaceful, relaxing, and beautiful. If you are in the mood to go hiking on a scenic trail, then this is the place to be.
The beach and rocky reefs as viewed from the northern section of the Bluff Trail. When I laid my eyes on the rocky reefs far into the distance and I saw a herd of seals.
Zoom in on the rocky reefs for a better view of harbor seals. Sometime these harbor seals are on the beach.
Zoom in some more for closer view of harbor seals on the rocky reef as viewed from the northern section of the Bluff Trail.
Adult harbor seals and baby seal are sun-bathing on the rocky reef. (My compact super-zoom camera has 65X oprical zoom.)
There is a large group (pod or colony) of about 350 harbor seals living in this area. Pictures taken by other visitors during the popping season between May and July show more of harbor seals on the rocky reefs or sunbathing on the beach as shown here, here, here, here, and here.
More photos of these harbor seals in Fitzgerald Marine Reserve can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
This picture shows harbor seals in verticle bottle position when they are sleeping in the water.
The Lookout at Cypress Point at the north end of Bluff Trail to enjoy refreshing breeze, and fantastic views of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and Montara State Marine Reserve and of stunning sunset view. Visitors enjoy standing on the cliffs overlooking the tide pools and all the seals.
This is the fantastic view including the rocky reefs and many tide pools of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve as viewed from the Cypress Point Lookout at the north end of Bluff Trail. More photos on the views from Cypress Point Lookout can be seen here, here, here and here.
In 1969, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, led by its president, James V. Fitzgerald (for whom the Reserve was named), passed a bill designating the Moss Beach tidepool area as a protected Reserve. The incredible tidepools make it a precious resource for studying marine life, the coastal ecosystem, and natural history. It is one of the best Marine life habitats in Northern California
Zoom in and saw some visitors exploring tide pools at low tide to see many kinds of marine life and creatures living in such rocky reefs and tide pools. This rocky seashore hosts a living community of marine life that is of great interest to visitor and naturalist alike. A variety of algae, crabs, shore crab, hermit crabs, sponges, seastars, mollusks, rock mussels, Hilton’s aeolid, urchin, anemone, octopus, shrimp, Chiton, jerryfish sea snails, Gooseneck barnacles, California mussels, Monterey dorid, Sea goddess, Sea lemon, Tube worms, Triopha maculate, sculpins, and many kinds of fish make their homes in the inter-tidal; that area between low and high tide.
Zoom in even more on the tide pool explorers. Each year over 130,000 visitors come enjoy the tide pools.
This YouTube video and this YouTube video provide good virtual tours of tide pools of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve at low tide.
More views of the tide pools and rocky reefs at low tide can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. There are plenty of small tide pools to explore and tons of kelp and seaweed.
A map of tide pools at low tide near the beach and the Bluff Trail can be seen here.
Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is home to a diverse community of marine life and creatures and is also an important site for studying geology and marine biology.
After the delicious seafood lunch in Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant, we left our car in the restaurant parking lot and started hiking on Beach Way to go north for a short distance and connected into the Bluff Trail in the cypress forest.
There are nice benches on the top of the bluff/cliff along Beach Way and Bluff Trail for visitors to enjoy the fantastic views or whale watching or just simply taking a rest after some hiking. You can sit on a bench and feel the sea breeze and slanting sunshine on your face. Pure bliss!
This place looks heavenly during the sunset. The sunset views from these benches, the Bluff Trail, Cypress Point Lookout and Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant are very beautiful and romantic as shown here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Some visitors park their cars along the roadside of Beach Way, then hike north on Beach Way to connect into the Bluff Trail for further hiking north into the cypress forest. Some other visitors park their cars on the roadside of Cypress Ave, then hike west to the junction of Cypress Ave, Beach Way and the Bluff Trail to start their hiking north along Bluff Trail.
The junction of Beach Way, Cypress Ave and the Bluff Trail. Another picture of this junction can be seen here. Sign near this junction to go on Bluff Trail can be seen here.
Road sign at the junction of Beach Way, Cypress Ave and Bluff Trail. Many visitors park their cars on the roadside of Beach Way or Cypress Ave and hiked on the Bluff Trail into the cypress forest.
Zoom in on the rocky reef and saw some harbor seals
Bluff Trail going north leading up to the Cypress Point Overlook
Fitzgerald Marine Ranger Station and a portion of parking lot located at 801-831 N Lake St, Moss Beach, CA 94038 as shown on this map. A closer view of the ranger station can be seen here. The restroom near the Ranger Station can be seen here.
Fitzgerald Marine Ranger Station and the parking lot. There is a short walkpath going west (Left of this picture) to the ocean, the rocky reefs and many tide pools of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve as shown on this picture and this picture. You get a map and useful informatoion, such as low tide table and self-guided tour sheets, at this Ranger Station. There are also picnic benches and bathrooms near the ranger station. There is a very nice video display, at the Ranger Station, that shows you what you could see in the tide pools.
This is the bridge near the Moss Beach Trailhead and near the junction of California Avenue and North Lake Street, Moss Beach, California. The bridge crosses San Vicente Creek. Usually visitors park their cars at the parking lot of the Ranger Station for Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and hike across this bridge to access the Cypress Forest, the scenic Bluff Trail and other trails. However, this bridge was severely damaged during the winter storm of 2022. So, this "normal" way to access the scenic Bluff Trail is closed for the time being until the brodge is repaired in the future. More views of this damaged bridge can be seen here, here.
That is the reason that we accessed the scenic Bluff Trail from the junction of Beach Way, Cypress Ave and Bluff Trail as suggested by the ranger at the ranger station. This is also the reason that many visitors park their cars on the roadsides of Beach Way or Cypress Ave near the junction of Beach Way, Cypress Ave and Bluff Trail, instead of the parking lot of the Ranger Station.
More pictures of this bridge before it was damaged can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here.
The Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant on the top of the high bluff/cliff at the southern end of Moss Beach. On Sunday August 27, 2023, we drove to this restaurant to enjoy the delicious seafood lunch before we started hicking north on the Beach Way which is connected into the Bluff Trail into the cypress forest. Another view of this restaurant can be seen here.
The lunch that we ordered at Moss Beach Distillery: Fish & Chips, Caesar Salad, and Coast Slider which is a trio of mini seafood delights: one yellowfin tuna with pickled ginger and shaved cucumber, one grilled salmon with cherrywood smoked bacon, one with a coastside crab cake and sesame coleslaw, all served on toasted brioche slider buns. Better pictures of Coast Slider can be seen here and here.
On Sunday, August 23, 2023, the parking lot and its over-flow parking lot of the busy Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant were all full.
The over-flow parking lot of Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant. It was also full on Sunday August 27, 2023.
Outdoor patio dinning area of Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant
Another view of outdoor patio dinning area of Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant
Moss Beach and the tall bluff as viewed from Moss Beach Distillery Restaurant. A better picture on a sunny day can be seen here.
There are also several benches on the parking lot and near the edge of the high bluff/cliff at the Moss Beach Distillery for visitors to sit and to enjoy the spectacular view of Pacific Ocean, the romantic sunset view, the boats and whale watching.
One of several beches near the edge of high bluff/cliff along Beach Way for visitors to enjoy the spectacular view of Pacific Ocean, the romantic sunset view, the boats and whale watching.
From time to time, visitors can see line of several cormorants or pelicans flying low just above the waves.
A closer view of pelicans fly low over water near Moss Beach can be seen here and on this YouTube video.
At suitable seasons, visitors may also see large number of birds on the Moss Beach, the large area of rocky reefs, tide pools and the nearby ocean as shown in here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
One may also enjoy the frenzy air show of many pelicans diving from mid air down into the ocean to catch fish as shown here when there is a big school of fish in the water.
A cormorant perching on the top of a storm battered concrete tower that projects above the surface of the ocean water at the southern end of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve as viewed from Moss Beach Distillery. More photos of this concrete tower can be seen here, here, here, here here, here , here, here, here.
This storm battered concrete flag support tower is a relic of World War II when it served as a marker and warning for aircraft and commercial fishing boats in the area during gunnery practice. During this period, the United States Navy built an airport at Half Moon Bay. The airport is still in operation today for small airplanes. The Navy flew PBYs (Patrol Bomber Y) on patrol as well as providing target towing aircraft over Moss Beach for gunnery practice. When target practice was scheduled, a red flag would be hoisted over the marker as a warning to other aircraft and approaching commercial fishermen in the area. Anti-aircraft guns situated at Montara would proceed to blast away at the target sleeve being towed. Today, the only function of the marker after more than half a century is that of a roosting shelter for gulls and cormorants. But the structure, a forgotten sentinel of the past that has survived.
After we finished hiking the Bluff Trail and were driving south on Highway 1 to go home, we saw many surfers were enjoying surfing at Surfers Beach just south of Pillar Point Harbor.
There were also many people on Surfers Beach, Valeo Beach and Mirada Surf Beach
Many people were on Surfers Beach and on the Coastal Trail watching many surfers in action on the waves.
Pillar Point Harbor as viewed from Highway 1
Upper Crystal Spring Reservloir as viewed from the Upper Crystal Spring Reservoir Vista Point near the junction of Highway 92 and Highway 35 (Skyline Road). The clean water in this reservoir comes from Yosemite National Park through 160 miles of Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct to serve San Francisco Bay Area. More information on the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct and the magnificent Roman style Pulgas Water Temple at the terminal of the aqueduct can be seen near the end of my website here.
We took a rest stop at this high Vista Point when we were driving back on Highway 92 to go home.