Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

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Location

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is located in the small town of Moss Beach. To get there, turn West off of Highway 1 onto California Avenue. California Avenue will end, forking into two streets; take the right street, North Lake Street, then turn immediately right into the parking lot. The hiking trailhead you may notice at the corner of North Lake Street and California Avenue, notable with a bridge over a little creek. There are also two neighborhood trailheads South of here, but the Lake/California trailhead is most accessible from the parking lot.
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Attractions:

You can't beat the beach for cool weather, refreshing wind, the ever alluring sand (to most children), and relaxing rhythm of the waves.
This reserve is exceptionally accessible, with nice wide, smooth trails with reasonable grades. Far safer than a lot of coastal access nearby.
The reserve is tucked beside a residential area in a small town, so it is far more serene and less busy than other coastal parks in larger towns.
The tide pools here are quite nice, thanks to a nice outcropping of rock that keeps wave activity controlled. See starfish, gulls, anemones, chiton, red algae, sculpin fish, limpets, mussels, tons of hermit crabs, snails, other crabs, sea lions, seals, and a wide range of seaweed. When we were there last, we heard a little boy shouting that he had found a little eel hiding in one of the tide pools.
The parking area has a small visitor's center and a bathroom.
There are some benches along some trails near the preserve.
The hike passes along some nice bluffs and through very beautiful bleached canopy of trees.
Improvements are planned in late 2008 for the Southern beach access (at the turn-around in the described hike), to replace steep and rutted railroad tie steps with concrete and redwood steps; should be very nice!
When we last visited, there were a lot of seals beached just South of the tide pools.

Limitations:

No dogs allowed.
No bikes allowed.
Stay on the trails to avoid ticks and poison oak!
There are nice rails along all of the bluffs, but this is still not a place to let small children wander free.
DO NOT move or remove any wildlife!

Season:

Year round, sunrise to sunset

Fees:

Free

Maps & More Information:

See Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Preserve for information about the preserve, events, and even a virtual tour of tide pools.
See San Mateo County's Webpage about the Preserve for history and more information.
See San Mateo County's Map of the Preserve
It's best to visit during low tide. Use this Tide Table to select an ideal visitation time.

Handicapped Access:

None.

Recommended routes:

Bluff and Grove Loop Icon Legend
The hiking here is wide and smooth, with some roll to the hills, but this is quite reasonable for a jogger provided that you only use the jogger on the hiking trail, and not for beach access. (The main beach access from the parking lot is so close to the lot that you may as well leave the jogger there; a very short steep section down to the creek makes jogger use impossible. The beach access at the South end of the hiking loop is CRAZY steep and long, making jogger use here impossible.) Begin the hike at the corner of California and Lake Street, across from the parking lot bathrooms. You'll notice a bridge for crossing the small stream there, with the only other noticable bumps for navigating a jogger. Just after crossing the bridge, the trail forks. Take the right fork to loop beginning with the bluffs, or fork left and begin in the groves. If you take the right fork, hike uphill a bit to the beautiful bluffs, with a couple options for circling about (we veered right). Take in the views up here, looking for larger marine life like seals and sea lions below. Continue down the trail to enter well planted groves (the rows of trees and oddly placed palms hint at design to the planting, plus you'll see evidence of an old house here). Notice the bleached bark of the trees that add to the serenity of the area. Continue until the trail ends at a neighborhood trailhead, where you'll also see very steep beach access (be careful if you decide to try it). Turn back along the second trail that begins here, closer to the residents. You'll pass through some lovely vegetation, eventually meeting back up with the initial bridge. Total loop is about 1.7 miles.