If you’re planning to spend time in Carpinteria, be sure to add a visit to Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve to your itinerary. Without a doubt, some of the best views of central California’s coastline can be found at Carpinteria Bluffs. But if the gorgeous California coast views aren’t enough to pique your interest, perhaps visiting a colony of seals will!
Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve is a park that protects coastal bluffs at the southern end of Carpinteria. These bluffs offer gorgeous ocean views and a place to walk, hike, run or bike along the ocean.
This small stretch of coastline was saved from development by the citizens of Carpinteria who fought hard for 20 years against developers with proposals for hotels, housing tracts, and oil refineries.
How did the citizens manage to preserve the bluffs? The community formed the Citizens For Carpinteria Bluffs in 1996 to raise money and build support for a permanent solution. In 1998, Shea Homes who owned the property at the time, agreed to sell the land to the Land Trust for $3,950,000 which was well below the appraised value. The property has since been turned over to the City Of Carpinteria to manage as an open space for the public.
Visitors can enjoy the bluffs along a nature trail that is flat and rated as easy. Because Carpinteria Bluffs is located just off Highway 1, it’s a great place to stretch your legs and get some fresh air if you’re traveling through the area on Pacific Coast Highway road trip.
How To Hike To Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary From Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve
Get yourself to Carpinteria Bluffs Trailhead located on Carpinteria Avenue. At the trailhead is a large dirt parking area. Parking here is free!
Look for a hiking trail that begins at the center of the parking lot. This is the quickest route to the Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary overlook.
Hike through a meadow of sagebrush towards the ocean. Along the way you’ll come across a map of the California coast showing the islands that are located off Carpinteria’s coastline. On a clear day you can see Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa Islands from here.
Once you get to the trail junction, take a right. From here the trail travels alongside train tracks. Along this short stretch you’ll walk under tall Eucalyptus trees that line the side of the sandy trail.
At a certain point the trail comes to a dead end where you will need to cross to the other side of the train tracks. Once you’ve crossed the train tracks, keep heading towards the ocean where the trail then veers to the right.
The Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Trail will now take you along a clifftop above the Pacific Ocean. It won’t be long before you come to a roped off area that overlooks the Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary.
From the overlook you’ll be able to view one of the four Harbor seal rookeries left on the Southern California coast. The seals go about their day on a secluded beach that is below the overlook. If you have binoculars you may want to bring them with you on your hike to get a closer look at them.
December through May is usually when you will see the most seals but they are here year-round. If you are visiting outside of the winter months, the best time to come and see the seals is either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. During the day the seals leave the beach to hunt for food.
As you can see in the photos below, there are only a few seals playing in the waves. This photo was taken around 11am. However the day before I came out to the overlook around 5pm and there were at least 30 seals sleeping on the sand.
After visiting Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary, you can continue along Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Trail to Tar Pits Park. The Carpinteria Tar Pits Park are one of five natural asphalt lake areas in the world.
These tar pits date back to the Pleistocene Age 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. Evidence of imperial elephants, the giant sloth, bison, wolf, tusked mastodons and camels have been discovered in this area.
From Tar Pits Park you can hike to Santa Rosa Campground, a campground that overlooks the ocean. At the campground is a Visitor Center however it’s not much of a Visitor Center. There is a public restroom though if you need and a water fountain to fill up water bottles.
The campground is the end of the line for Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Trail. Go back to the trailhead the same way you came.
Whether you choose to continue onto Tar Pits Park and the official end of the nature trail or not, know that you won’t be missing out on spectacular coastal views at all. So don’t feel bad if you choose to head back to the trailhead from the Seal Sanctuary.
If you’re lucky you may see dolphins and at certain times of the year whales migrating too. From the bluffs trailhead to the overlook and back is about one mile rountrip and should only take you about ten minutes to reach.
Are you interested in exploring more of Carpinteria’s coastline? Then check out this other easy nature trail at Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, one of the largest and most important estuaries in California.