Here She Goes Again

Santa Cruz to Monterey Bay – Nov 2024

This month I and my travel bestie Kathy embarked on a unique trip. The trip involved walking from one city in California to another, along the ocean for 5 days with stops at amazing places for the nights. We walked almost 60 miles on foot and completed by far the most challenging trip of my life.

Day 1 – Santa Cruz

After brunch at a cute little cafe, we headed to walk to Natural Bridges State Park almost 8 miles round trip from the hotel. It was a great weather and the walk is highly recommended if you happened to be in the area. One can easily spend a day here. As we headed back we saw many surfers catching the waves as the sun set for the day. Santa Cruz is neat little town to hang around with boutique restaurants and great ocean views.

Day 2 – Aptos

Next morning after eating the breakfast at the most elegant cafe in the hotel we stayed, we set of to our next 10 miles walk along the ocean.

We were to stop at the 6 mile mark at a little town called Capitola for lunch.We walked along the coast thru sand, rocks and some paved paths. My most favorite was walking on the dead railway tracks thru the woods. We passed a lighthouse as well.

We ate by the ocean at “downtown” Capitola. The Capitola oceanfront food joints were very picturesque. Must visit if you are in the area.

We had to visit Gayle’s bakery for our goodies as it was highly recommended by Kathy’s friends! 😄 We walked uphill another 2 miles to go to Gayles Bakery. It did not disappoint! It is a huge bakery with so many yummy goodies and the line was out of the door! We had to take a ticket and wait for us to be served! 🤯

We then arrived at our next stop for the night: Aptos Seascape Resort. It was an exquisite place with unbelievable scenery and beach. If you are ever in the place, highly recommended!

Day 3 – Moss Landing

After a leisure breakfast and picking up a packed lunch from a nearby deli we headed out to our next 10 miler! Moss landing. This was by far the longest and the most beautiful walk we took along the ocean since we started! The ocean had its own character each day we walked along on the beach. Today was a mellow day! 😌

We ate our lunch on a log on the beach where a pesky seagull knew how to get his way! 😀 There were unlimited ocean wildlife and no humans other than the two of us most of the way! Solitude at its best!

We reached Moss Landing in another 2 hours and wow what a change in the scenery! It was a place where ocean water met the rivers and was a perfect aquatic wildlife habitat. One could spend all day watching wildlife here! We then reached our little inn called Captain’s Inn. The view from the room window and patio was breathtaking and the sunset equally so!

Day 4 – Marina

After breakfast we headed for a boat tour on Elkhorn Slough. We learned about otters and how they were almost extinct in 1800s because people wanted otter fur coats!🧥 🙄

Today was the 7 mile walk to the town called Marina. The walk was shorter but so much harder as we had to walk over the slanted beach sand all the way. My knees took a beating for sure! But this was by far the most beautiful walk along the ocean of the entire trip! The waves had the bounce we had never seen until now. We saw so many dolphins and whales and abundance of ocean wildlife. We even got our little private dolphins show as we ate our lunch on the beach!

We finally reached our hotel which was extremely unimpressive. I would recommend staying at much nicer one across the street called Sanctuary Beach Resort.

Day 5 – Monterey Bay

We started on our last 11 mile walk along the ocean from Marina to Monterey Bay. A large part of this walk was thru a state park (Fort Dunes) on a paved path. That part was a relief initially but quickly got boring. I mean, how long can you enjoy the cars highways and roads. We found our way to ocean pretty soon and walked the rest of the way along the bay again! 🙂

Almost to the end of the walk and exhausted, we dragged ourselves to the hotel that was the perfect end to our trip! Monterey Bay Inn on the famous canary Row is highly recommended! We soaked on the hot tub on the rooftop overlooking the ocean and let our bodies rest after a long hard 5 days of the trip.

Yet another amazing trip concluded with so many memories and invaluable insights into this thing called life!

Tips:

1. Pack Merino wool tops/socks. They don’t stink for days at a time and are quick dry in case a wash is needed and keep you warm in cold temps.
2. No need to pack nice clothes on a hiking/walking trip(a lesson to myself..haha)
3. Pack couple of pairs of hiking pants that was quick dry and weather proof.