Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma in San Diego, California is closest park to my home base. Unfortunately, it is not the most pet friendly area.
The park was established in 1913 to commemorate the life of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He was the first European to set foot on the west coast of the US. The visitor center sits on top of the end of the peninsula and provides excellent views of Coronado situated in San Diego Bay and to the Coronado Islands off the Mexican coast. This is also a great location during January and February to catch site of gray whales on their annual southern migration. The whales travel from the Arctic to the warmer waters of Baja California to give birth or mate.
There are some short walking trails from the visitor center to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse and the Cabrillo statue. A longer, 2.5 mile round trip trail, traverses native coastal sage scrub and past remnants of the WWI and II bunkers and gun batteries. Unfortunately none of these trails allow pets.
Where to take your pet
If you do bring your pet, head down the hill on Cabrillo Rd. to the tidepool area. The Coastal Tidepool Trail allows leashed pets. This trail follows the coast between parking lots 1 and 2. It is an easy to moderate, 1 mile hike with the Pacific Ocean on one side and native Mediterranean coastal sage scrub on the other. Erosion is a constant influence in the area so some sections can be quite rugged. Unlike most parks, dogs cannot walk on the roadside.
Since there is 1 dog friendly trail the park gets a 2-paw rating but it is worth a visit just to see the park’s tidepools on a good low tide. There are many rocky intertidal areas in San Diego but the diversity of life seems to be the best here. I’m sure this has to do with the presence of rangers and docents preventing any animal collecting. I’m always looking out for nudibranchs and on my recent trip there I found 24 individual ones of 3 different species.
Hopkin’s Rose, Okenia rosacea Thick-Horned Nudibranch, Hermissenda crassicornis Giant Green anemone, Anthopleura xanthogrammica
Parking can be in short supply on good low-tides days. Surf shoes or other footwear that can get wet are recommended.
Check out Cabrillo’s current pet policies or park alerts on their website.
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