Sequoia Audubon Trail

Seasonal Activities: Catch and release fishing is permitted on Saturdays only from December 1 through March 7. Visitors can go kayaking between September 1 and February 28.

Distance: 1.5 miles round trip

Elevation change: 65 feet

Hiking time: Less than an hour

Trail surface: Uneven, dirt trail

Best Season: Fall

Managing agency: Coastside State Parks Association

Parking lot location: Click here for directions

Overview: The Pescadero Marsh is the largest coastal wetland between San Francisco and Monterey counties and this trail takes you right through the middle of it. With more than 200 bird species, including a rookery of nesting egrets, herons, and cormorants, it is a birder’s paradise. Be sure to bring your binoculars.

Park at the ocean-side Cabrillo Highway S parking lot, directly off Highway 1. Take the wooden staircase on the eastern side of the parking lot to a pedestrian walkway along Highway 1, then down another staircase to the beach. Walking under the bridge from the beach leads to the lagoon and Sequoia Audubon Trail — crossing the road on foot is not recommended.

You’ll pass some beach grass and bathing pelicans en route to the trailhead marker and thats where your fun-filled adventure begins! The Audubon Society’s local chapter donated to help protect and maintain the marsh as a bird sanctuary. Pescadero Creek is also home to endangered steelhead and Coho salmon, which run up the creek in the winter months when the water levels rise.