You can’t get to Montana de Oro State Park by accident. Located south of Los Osos, California off a dead end road, this beautiful country of sea stacks, caves, arches and wild waves can keep you occupied for days. The park contains seven miles of shoreline.

While most trails are maintained, many are rugged and rocky with steep climbs. For the best introduction to Montana de Oro, take the Bluffs Trail, which follows the edge of the bluffs far above the park’s many rocky coves. On a big wave day, foam from the surf below can actually drift up the 100 foot high cliffs to float above your head. There are spots when you can drop down to the rocky shoreline to explore the tidepools formed by the reefs of Monterey shale. For a 3 ½ mile hike, go all the way to the fence and then return the same way you came.

The Los Angeles Times placed Montana de Oro number nine on its list of the "15 places to visit to see the real California". The article says in part: "...it is the 1,000 foot cliffs that are the most mystic and stirring. In the evening, just after sunset, the sky and the water turn a deep plum. Waves crash: the wind purrs. Here, at this moment, California was never so cool".

There is a visitor center in an old ranch house near Spooners Beach, and guided hikes are frequently available. There are also mountain biking and equestrian trails which wind up onto Mount Valencia, a 1347 foot peak in the center of the park that has amazing views of the central coast.

Sea otters are within view of the shore, there are tidepools to explore, and gray whales can be seen migrating further out in the ocean every month but October and November. The Pacific Gray Whales make a round trip of over 12,000 miles between their breeding grounds in Baja and their feeding grounds in Alaska. From the bluffs you can also catch distant views of Morro Rock. So you can see civilization from here, you just can’t touch it.

Montana de Oro State Park may only be reached by following Los Osos Road (an exit off Highway 101) until it turns into Pecho Road. It is not well-signed. Pecho dead ends in the park.