A day at Point Lobos? Plan ahead online
Scenic state reserve attracts so many visitors, officials plan to test a reservation system
POINT LOBOS >> Securing a spot at this famed coastal reserve will soon be like scoring a table at Mario Batali’s hottest new restaurant.
In an attempt to reduce crowds at one of California’s most scenic places, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve will soon become the first state park to require visitors to obtain reservations at peak times, following the successful example set by the National Park Service’s Muir Woods parking reservation system last year.
Managers of the reserve, famed for its beautiful vistas and miserable parking, say it’s being loved to death. On weekends, as many as 6,000 people per day may visit — more than fourfold the 1,400 visitors envisioned by park planners three decades ago. Because it’s a reserve, not only a park, it is required to have greater protection.
“There’s a finite amount of coastal prairie and tide pools. It can only sustain so much use,” said Brent Marshall, superintendent of California State Parks Monterey District. A test of the reservation system could be started next year.
Point Lobos has always played an outsized role in the imagination of wild California. Its rocky outcrops and wind-battered cypress were a favorite background for Hollywood’s early silent movies starring Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Famed photographer Edward Weston built his reputation on images of the white sands of Gibson Beach and the kelp beds at China Cove.
Robert Louis Stevenson found inspiration here for his novel “Treasure Island.” Beat poet Michael McClure immortalized it in his poem “Point Lobos: Animism.”
Motivated, you wake up on Saturday morning, check your weather app — Sunshine! Blue sky! — and load up the family car.
That’s when your day goes to hell.
The reserve has just 150 parking spaces and there isn’t space for more. They are usually full by 10 a.m. and stay full until 2 p.m. If turned away, visitors park along Highway 1 and walk to the entrance. Tour buses arrive in waves, around 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.
Point Lobos attracted 650,000 visitors last year, dwarfing the 387,000 who experienced its beauty in 1984.
“We have had these huge jumps, as social media highlights areas that were less visited in the past,” said Anna Patterson, executive director of the Point Lobos Foundation, a nonprofit partner to the state park. “The infrastructure, and natural areas, don’t support that level of visitation.”
The plan is to spread out the crowds, reducing numbers on weekends and holidays and boosting weekday visits.
“What is happening now,” said Marshall, “is people are piling in on weekends and park all over highway, right off the shoulder. They’re getting their strollers out while semis are blowing by.
“When they get to the gate, they’re faced with a pile of cars. Park aides are overwhelmed, so they can’t get good information. Then they walk, taking snack and diaper breaks, before they finally get to the coast,” he said. “You look out at this dramatic meeting of land and sea — and there are people in front of you, and people behind you.
“I hear hundreds of visitors saying ‘This not what we signed up for.’ It is not as enjoyable as they read in Sunset magazine or a blog,” said Marshall. “That is not
the experience we want to provide.”
Meanwhile, the fragile bluffs are being eroded. Human-created trails damage delicate plants like sage, sunflower and coyote brush. The birds — gnatcatchers, hermit thrush, yellowrumped warblers and more — go silent. Deer sightings are less common.
But a reservation system could surprise travelers from out of town or overseas, said visitors.
“Would they turn people away? It’s a two-hour drive for us. That would be so disappointing,” said Judy Ho of Los Altos.
Vacationing Cynthia
Palmer of Sidney, Maine, gazing out at the surf and setting sun, said, “We would have missed it, because we wouldn’t have known about it. How do you know to go online?”
“We’re trying to balance two things,” said Ernest Chung of Pebble Beach, a member of a community group that works with the reserve’s leadership. “One is access to the reserve, because it is an amazing place and we have the obligation to provide access to the public. The other is preservation of the very fragile natural resources there.”
It’s not clear whether the park service will charge a
fee for the reservation.
Point Lobos is not alone in its struggle to accommodate throngs of visitors. While most of the Bay Area’s parks have the same parking and other facilities as they did two decades ago, the region’s population has swelled from 3.5 million to 7.68 million.
On weekend mornings, the parking lots at Marin County’s Mt. Tamalpais — especially Bootjack, Pantoll and Rock Springs — are a nightmare. At Fremont’s Mission Peak Regional Preserve, cars crawl through the suburban neighborhoods in search of a spot. In Los Altos Hills, Rancho
San Antonio County Park offers access at Mora Drive, but residents have blocked spaces with boulders.
Muir Woods National Monument, famed for its ancient redwood trees, announced in January that vehicles without parking reservations will be be turned away at the gate, although visitors who are walking, cycling or riding shuttles do not need a reservation. Officials at other national parks such as Arches, Yosemite and Zion are also exploring the idea of reserved parking systems.
To be sure, reservations have long been required at California State Parks’ popular campgrounds, cabins and Hearst Castle. But Point Lobos would be the first state park to require reservations for all day-use visitors — car or walk-in.
The first step is to do a short-term trial over one or two seasons, to test its effectiveness and better gauge the ideal number of visitors, said Marshall. Over the next three to five years, it hopes to create off-site parking, as well as a shuttle system.
“We hate to turn people away,” said Marshall. “With some planning, and a nominal fee, you know you will have a special experience.”