California Coast Guide
The California Coastal Access Guide
One of the best California coast guides is the California Coastal Access Guide, describing the coast’s beaches, National Parks, State Parks, with many maps.
We were curious about this California coast guide. Many of our website visitors told us they had bought it and found it really useful, so why didn’t we review it? So we bought a copy and took a look. And we were impressed.
California Coastal Access Guide Cover
The California Coastal Access Guide is an unusual book in that it is produced by the California Coastal Commission for the State of California, and published by the University of California Press. It’s been updated several times over the years, but the most recent one we could get our hands on was the 6th edition, which came out in 2003.
Update!
This review is of the 2003 edition of the guide. There is now an updated edition which we thoroughly recommend.
Not a Guidebook
Let’s start by saying this California coast guide is not a guidebook. You won’t find hotels and restaurants listed here, although they do list all the hostels you’ll find along the coast.
But apart from that, it won’t tell you where to stay or where to eat. There are also only brief entries for museums and other attractions, and not every attraction in every place along the coast is listed.
Why Buy this California Coast Guide?
If it isn’t a very thorough guidebook, why on earth would you want to buy the California Coastal Access Guide? The answer is because it’s the most thorough guide to all the natural wonders of the California coast that you’ll find. By the time this edition had come out in 2003 it had sold over 100,000 copies, which is a good sign.
The Introduction
The various sections of the Introduction give you some idea who the book is aimed at. There are pages on Children and the Coast, Boating and Boating Safety, Access for Persons with Disabilities, Environmental Camping, Coastal Hostels, and several sections about the California coast’s precious wildlife: Protecting Marine Wildlife, and Marine Sanctuaries, for example
The Heceta Head Lighthouse on the California Coast
California Coast Wildlife
The guide will definitely appeal to those who - like us - love the wildlife we see on our journeys up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. Dotted throughout the book are numerous full-page features which cover subjects like the Northern Elephant Seal, Monarch Butterflies, the Southern Sea Otter, Tidepools, Clams, Shellfish, Sharks, Seabirds, Shorebirds and Waterfowl, and the California Gray Whale. All of these are in-depth looks at the creatures that live on or just off the coast, and will add a great deal to your journey through California.
Young Northern Elephant Seal
National Parks, State Parks, State Beaches
As this is an official publication, you’d expect it to be good on state facilities - and it is. It includes full details (including maps, facilities, phone numbers) for all the California coast’s National Parks, Recreation Areas, State Parks, State Beaches, Marine Sanctuaries, Natural Reserves, Natural Preserves, and Natural Refuges. For anyone who likes visiting any of these places, the book is invaluable.
Russian Gulch State Park
Some Dated Details
Inevitably in a book this old, some of the information is dated. I certainly wouldn’t reply on the opening hours, for example! Very few websites are listed, of course. Places like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Scripps Institute in La Jolla have changed a lot in ten years.
One notable omission is the place we always stop at when driving the Pacific Coast Highway: the Piedras Blancas Beach, just north of Hearst Castle. This is where the elephant seals gather, to mate and give birth, and it’s one of the most thrilling sights anywhere along the west coast of the USA. But the seals only started arriving here in 1990, and the first edition of this book was published way back in 1981. It looks like it hasn’t been updated properly, as you can’t ignore this rookery of up to 17,000 elephant seals if you’re describing the California coast.
Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach
Photo (c) Donna Dailey
There’s no entry for Piedras Blancas in the index. There isn’t even an entry for elephant seals - you have to look under Northern elephant seals to find the page devoted to these amazing creatures, and not every reader might know they’re called Northern elephant seals.
Piedras Blancas might be excluded because it isn’t a State Beach, but the California Coastal Access Guide is so much about wildlife that this very special place ought to be in there. Next edition, anyone?
Bixby Bridge on the California Coast
California Coast Guide Verdict
Despite some of the information being slightly dated, we still thoroughly recommend this guide for your Pacific Coast Highway drive if you are at all interested in wildlife, walking, scenery, or any other natural aspect of this fabulous stretch of coast.
This review is of the 2003 edition of the guide. There is now an updated and improved edition, which you can find on Amazon.
Other books pages
There are lots of free things to do on the Pacific Coast Highway and here's our list of ten of them including wildlife, the best free views, and free museums.
The guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns lists over 250 boutique hotels, wine country cottages and more.
Morro Bay is a delightful small town on the California coast roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles and noted for the huge Morro Rock.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip guide from Moon covering California, Oregon and Washington
Carlsbad is a beach city north of San Diego in southern California famous for its flower fields, LEGOLAND resort and water park, surfing and SEA LIFE Aquarium.
Greetings from California is a beautiful coffee-table book which describes the legends, landmarks and lore of California, including the Pacific Coast Highway.
California Living and Eating by Eleanor Maidment is a handsome coffee table book celebrating the food and lifestyle of the Golden State with 80 tasty recipes.
Mendocino in Mendocino County is a small but pretty California coastal town, popular with artists and with travelers. It has featured in many songs and movies.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide book covering the drive from Vancouver to San Diego.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's book review of Insider's Guide to San Francisco guidebook by Jill Loeffler, publisher of the San Francisco Tourism Tips website.
Some of the best California Backroads are included in Backroads of the California Coast, with 24 highly recommended driving tours off the Pacific Coast Highway.
Brewpubs and good beer are at the heart of the Good Beer Guide to the West Coast USA which lists the best bars and breweries from Seattle to San Diego.
The Santa Barbara Guidebook from Moon Handbooks also covers California’s Central Coast with Ventura, San Luis Obispo, wine country, and Hearst Castle.
Santa Monica Pier is just off the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica near Los Angeles, with an amusement park, an aquarium and many other attractions.
La Jolla in southern California is north of San Diego off the Pacific Coast Highway and has museums, restaurants, hotels, beaches, and the Birch Aquarium.
This John Steinbeck California Guide, A Journey into Steinbeck's California, shows readers how towns like Monterey, Carmel and Salinas influenced the author.
Epic Drives of the World from Lonely Planet describes 50 of the world's most exciting road trips, including, of course, the Pacific Coast Highway.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews an Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide published by the Beautiful Pacific Northwest website.
The Best Coast is a west coast travel guide, sub-titled A Road Trip Atlas it doesn't use photos but instead has hundreds of beautiful illustrations.
San Clemente in California is a small city on the Pacific Coast Highway midway between San Diego and Los Angeles, noted for its beaches and surfing.
Crescent City is on the Pacific Coast Highway in northern California and noted for its crescent-shaped beach, Ocean World sea park, and nearby redwoods and state parks.
West Coast Road Eats is a road food guide covering the Pacific Coast from California through Oregon to Washington, giving the best road trip food stops.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Vintage Hollywood alongside 51 other perfect weekends.
Pismo Beach is a small beach town on California's Central Coast, a resort famous for surfing and clams.
For a Moss Beach hotel just off the Pacific Coast Highway, the Seal Cove Inn offers good accommodation north of Half Moon Bay, minutes from the ocean.
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