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Monday 8am - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 5pm Friday 8am - 5pm Saturday 8am - 5pm Sunday 8am - 5pm

Natural Bridges State Beach

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Santa Cruz, CA
Natural Bridges State Beach

This State Beach includes a natural bridge and beach, a hiking trail, tide pools, and easy-to-access Parking is $10 per car load.

The Visitor Center is currently open from 11:00 am until 4:00 pm daily dependent on staffing availability. The park itself, trail, beach, and Monarch grove are open from 8am to sunset. Natural Bridges State Beach is open to the public all year long and is staffed full-time during Monarch butterfly season in the fall. We can loan out a regular wheel chair and a sand-safe wheel chair once the visito

r has filled a short form and loaned their driver's license. Please use the Iron Ranger pay station if someone is not present at the kiosk. If you are a school group leader/teacher, please make a reservation using the following link with a form. https://santacruzstateparks.as.me/?appointmentType=category:Natural%20Bridges%20State%20Beach%20-%20In-Person Our field trips have a 35 student limit, if your group size exceeds this please book multiple trips. At Natural Bridges, there are many things to do including going to see the natural bridge rock formation, when it is low-tide you can go tide pooling, and from September through January the Monarch butterflies overwinter, or rest, at our State Beach in the Eucalyptus grove.

05/28/2023

Are you missing us? 😥

We have officially moved to our new account, Santa Cruz State Beaches. Head over there to stay up to date with all the latest happenings within state parks in Santa Cruz County.

Image Description: Four photos of the Santa Cruz State Beaches (a flock of birds in the ocean on a cloudy day, a natural bridge rock formation on a sunny day, a scenic view of a beach with ice plant in the foreground, and looking at the cliffs and ocean at New Brighton State Beach) with the text “We Moved! ” centered in the middle.

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

05/27/2023

⏰ Time is running out!

There is only 1 day left until we transition to our new account, Santa Cruz State Beaches. This account will be your one-stop shop for all things park related including park updates, interesting nature/historical facts, and connecting with fellow park lovers.

☝️ Be sure to follow us at Santa Cruz State Beaches!

Image Description: a sign hanging with the text, “we’re moving” and a large number 1

📍Ohlone Tribal Land

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

05/26/2023

Do you love state parks? 🌊 Do you enjoy learning about nature? 🧐 If you answered yes to any of these questions, be sure to follow us on Santa Cruz State Beaches.

We officially make the transition on May 26th so be sure to follow us on the new account! See you there!

Image Description: a sign hanging with the text, “we’re moving’ and a large number 2

📍Ohlone Tribal Land

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

05/25/2023

📣 We have something exciting in store for you!

Beginning May 26, 2023, we will be moving to a new account, Santa Cruz State Beaches. Be sure to follow along so you can stay up to date with the latest park happenings and connect with the community of park lovers!

Image Description: a sign hanging with the text, “we’re moving’ and a large number 3

📍Ohlone Tribal Land

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

05/22/2023

🌊Attention followers!!🌊

There are only 5 days until we officially transition to our new account, Santa Cruz State Beaches! This account will cover Natural Bridges State Beach, New Brighton State Beach, Sunset State Beach, Manresa State Beach, and Seacliff State Beach. Be sure to follow us to receive park updates, learn about the coastal environment, and connect with park lovers.

⚠On May 26th, Natural Bridges State Beach account will be closed.

📍Ohlone Tribal Land

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

05/14/2023

Happy Mother's Day to Moms of all species! We have a serious problem, and we need your help!
Millions of balloons are released each year to celebrate special occasions, but what goes up must come down. Balloons are among the top 10 most common types of plastic debris found during coastal cleanups, and have tripled in number in the last decade! The sea animals who mistake these balloons for food or become entangled in their strings are far from celebrating. Ingesting plastics is a major cause of death for many marine animals! Plastics clog the digestive system and cause animals to slowly starve. Animals often find themselves entangled in balloon strings as well, restricting their movement and making feeding and survival near impossible.
Unfortunately, balloons are the #1 cause of death from marine debris-related risks in sea birds.
Help us keep our oceans balloon-free this Mother's day!
📍 Uypi Land

04/29/2023

📨 This is your invitation to follow our new account Santa Cruz State Beaches!

Our current accounts for Natural Bridges, Sunset and Manresa will be moving over to this new account on May 26th. Please join us there for great state parks content! 🏖🌅🌊

📍 Ohlone Tribal Land

04/14/2023

Have you followed our new account Santa Cruz State Beaches yet? It’s got great info and fantastic photos and videos of some of your favorite state parks and beaches, including Natural Bridges State Beach, Seacliff State Beach, New Brighton State Beach, Wilder Ranch State Park, Sunset State Beach, and Manresa State Beach. What are you waiting for? Join us today!

⚠️Make sure to follow Santa Cruz State Beaches soon as the Natural Bridges account will be closed in May 2023.

Image description: A circle of 6 round photos highlighting Santa Cruz State Beaches including close-up of field of California poppies, brown pelican in flight, the beach at New Brighton State Beach, monarch butterfly cluster at Natural Bridges State Beach, two girls riding bikes path with ocean view at New Brighton State Beach, and beach at Sunset State Beach. The photos have different whimsical arrows that point to the circle center where text reads, “Follow Us! ”

📍Ohlone Tribal Lands

04/07/2023

We are so excited about our new raised garden beds for our butterfly nectar garden at Natural Bridges State Beach. We want to thank Noah R. from Boy Scout Troop 609 in Aptos who designed the new garden beds and installed them for his Eagle Scout project. Having raised beds will increase the variety of plants we can successfully grow and allow us to better showcase different butterfly nectar plants. Thank you, Noah!

Image description: Top photo: The butterfly nectar garden before the raised beds were installed with only a few plants, many in plastic pots. Bottom photo: Butterfly nectar garden with the new raised beds and some new plants. The new garden is much more organized and functional.

📍 Uypi Land
Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

04/06/2023

re you looking for a rewarding career and love being out on the water? Join us on Saturday, April 15 at the Rio del Mar State Beach platforms for State Park Lifeguard tryouts! Sign up with the QR code on the flyer or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSWA9s2ZOKGw5yAJScuIi6XT_25RPOWG0nIUrS0RVWtE_qJw/viewform

Test swim starts at 9 am and interviews will be held on the same day. The tryout consists of a 1000 yard ocean swim with a 20 minute cut-off and an 800 yard run-swim-run sequence (200 yd run, 400 yd swim, 200 yd run) with a 10 minute cut-off time.

For more information, contact Sergeant Byran Kine at [email protected] or (831) 212-7753.

Image description: Recruitment flyer for Santa Cruz area State Park Lifeguard tryouts

CA State Parks Jobs Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

03/31/2023

For Women’s History Month, we want to acknowledge a woman who collaborated on one of the most important modern breakthroughs in monarch butterfly science: Catalina Trail.

When the monarchs' overwintering grounds were finally found by scientists (Native people from the area already knew where the butterflies went) it made the cover of National Geographic with an amazing photo of a woman covered in butterflies. The woman pictured on the cover receives a single mention in the article "Ken Brugger doubled his field capability by marrying a bright and delightful Mexican Cathy (pg. 166)"

The woman in the photo is Catalina Trail. She was an amateur entomologist who spoke Spanish fluently, was familiar with the people and the area where the butterflies were eventually found, and never liked the nickname “Cathy.” It was Catalina who taught Ken about butterflies, who smoothed the way with the local people, and who knew the difficult mountain terrain.

Saddened by the way the discovery was reported and lack of acknowledgement of her contribution, she eventually dropped out of science. What other brilliant discoveries might she have made had she not been marginalized in her field? For a more detailed account of the discovery from Catalina's point of view we recommend these articles:

https://texasbutterflyranch.com/2015/09/17/q-a-catalina-trail-founder-of-the-monarch-butterfly-roosting-sites/

https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2016/mar/LLL_catalina/

Image description: Monarch butterfly cluster on a eucalyptus branch at Natural Bridges State Beach

📍 Uypi Land

03/25/2023

We have exciting news! We are combining with other state parks and beaches in the Santa Cruz area to form a new Facebook account: Santa Cruz State Beaches Follow us there for more of the inspirational nature photos, cool nature facts, and important State Parks updates you love for more of our great parks, including Natural Bridges State Beach, Seacliff State Beach, New Brighton State Beach, Wilder Ranch State Park, Sunset State Beach, and Manresa State Beach.

Thank you so much for your support and appreciation for California’s amazing natural and cultural resources. We’ll see you soon on Santa Cruz State Beaches!

Image description: A collage of photos from State Beaches in Santa Cruz, including a park visitor looking out at the ocean at New Brighton State Beach, the natural bridge at Natural Bridges State Beach, and a sunburst anemone and mussels in a tide pool; a lavender horizontal bar runs across the middle of the collage with a text overlay that reads “Follow Us! ”

📍Ohlone Tribal Lands Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks Parks California California State Parks Foundation California State Parks Foundation

Address

2531 W Cliff Drive
Santa Cruz, CA
95060

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm
Saturday	8am - 5pm
Sunday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

(831) 423-4609

Website

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=541

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