Ano Nuevo Point and Island - San Mateo, CA - U.S. National Natural Landmarks on Waymarking.com

Año Nuevo is fascinating to visit in every season. The trip from the visitors center to a viewing point at South Point, is about 3 miles round trip, much of it through loose sand. From December to March, one can only see the elephant seals on a scheduled guided walk, as this is the height of breeding season. During spring and summer, elephant seals visit the reserve to molt. In April and May, one finds females and juvenile seals. In June and July, one finds sub-adult males and in July to August, you will find adult males. Females weigh in around 1500 pounds, while adult males weigh in around 4500 pounds.

In addition to seals one might encounter deer and a variety of wild fowl.

From the State Parks website:

Fifty-five miles south of San Francisco and the Golden Gate, a low, rocky, windswept point juts out into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish maritime explorer Sebastian Vizcaino sailed by the point on January 3, 1603. His diarist and chaplain of the expedition, Father Antonio de la Ascension, named it Punta de Año Nuevo (New Year's Point) for the day on which they sighted it in 1603.

Today, the point remains much as Vizcaino saw it from his passing ship. Lonely, undeveloped, wild. Elephant seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals come ashore to rest, mate, and give birth in the sand dunes or on the beaches and offshore islands. It is a unique and unforgettable natural spectacle that hundreds of thousands of people come to witness each year.

Año Nuevo State Reserve is the site of the largest mainland breeding colony in the world for the northern elephant seal, and the interpretive program has attracted increasing interest every winter for the past 19 years. People who hope to see the seals during the winter breeding season are urged to get their reservations early. The males battle for mates on the beaches and the females give birth to their pups on the dunes.

During the breeding season, December through March, daily access to the reserve is available via guided walks only. Most of the adult seals are gone by early March, leaving behind the weaned pups who remain through April. The elephant seals return to Año Nuevo's beaches during the spring and summer months to molt and can be observed during this time through a permit system.

Año Nuevo Point and Island was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1980.

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