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 Half Moon Bay State Beach - Half Moon Bay, California Posted by:  DougK
N 37° 27.988 W 122° 26.675
10S E 549115 N 4146766
Half Moon Bay Beach is one of four small beaches stretching south from Montana Mountain. To the east the Santa Cruz Mountains frame a dramatic backdrop to this captivating north central coast region known to local residents as the “Coastside.”
Waymark Code: WMQER5
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 02/17/2016
Views: 2
Four miles of broad, sandy beaches provide for sunbathing, fishing and picnicking for visitors to Half Moon Bay.
Francis Beach has a campground with 52 individual sites, some suitable for tent camping, others for trailers or recreational vehicles. Although hookups are not available, there is a dump station.
Coin-operated hot showers are also available.
Please refrain from removing shells, driftwood, and other natural beach features. Fireworks and beach fires are prohibited.
A park brochure (PDF) is available online.
Half Moon Bay State Beach
95 Kelly Avenue
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
(650) 726-8819
Park Type: Overnight, Day Use
Activities:
Boating
Family Campsites
Group Campsites
Hike or Bike Campsites
Bike Trails
Hiking Trails
Horseback Riding
Picnic Areas
Env. Learning/Visitor Center
Exhibits and Programs
Fishing
Interpretive Exhibits
Beach Area
Swimming
Vista Point
Nature & Wildlife Viewing
Windsurfing/Surfing
Family Programs
Geocaching
Background:
From the park brochure:
Cultural History
By the time Europeans arrived here, this area had been occupied for thousands of years by as many as 50 separate and politically autono- mous native groups known as the Ohlone. Each group had its own leader, customs and territory, though some smaller groups were connected by shared boundaries, intertribal marriage and similarities of language.
According to the diary of Father Francisco Palou—biographer and successor of Father Junípero Serra—the native people were friendly, offering the Spaniards food and guidance through the steep arroyos.
Also linguistically referred to as Coastanoans (a name bestowed by the Spanish, meaning coast people), the Ohlones’ ecologically rich territory extended from the marine environment of today’s San Francisco inland to the oak/grasslands of the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley and south to present-day Carmel. Today’s coast Highway One and Highway 92 over the mountains faithfully follow trails created by the Ohlone.
Housing was simple and food was plentiful. Alongside trout- and salmon-rich freshwaters, the Ohlone used willow branches as frames for their dome-shaped dwellings, thatching them with dried tule, cattails or light brush. The ocean provided an abundance of fish, shellfish and sea mammals, and the inland areas were rich in acorns, berries, roots, barks and nuts. The people—skilled agriculturists—practiced cultivation, controlled burning, pruning and re- seeding in order to encour- age the growth of herbs, medicinal plants and desir- able food sources. These methods of land manage- ment also produced natural forage that would lure local
game animals.
The Ohlone hunted large (deer, bears, elk and sea mammals) and small (rab- bits, squirrels, skunks and various birds) game for food. Some Ohlone artifacts found at the park have included tools of obsidian and other sharp stones, artfully woven baskets, jewelry, clothing and weaponry. What the native people could not make or gather they obtained in trade with other native groups.
In the mid-1700s, Spanish missionaries arrived and drew the native people into the mission system. The decline in the Ohlone way of life began with the loss of their lands and grew rapidly with the introduction of European diseases. By 1810 nearly 70 percent of the Ohlone had per- ished from disease or had fled to other areas. Former Ohlone lands—the nucleus of today’s San Mateo County—were granted to Spanish settlers in the 1840s.
The native people had managed the land productively without overexploiting it, but those who took it over changed its natural ecology.
In spite of these challenges, today’s Ohlone descendents continue the use of native plants and are reviving their lan- guages and passing on their honored traditions.
When the gold rush brought immigrants from Mexico and Chile to the area, San Benito earned the nickname “Spanishtown.” Its remarkable diversity began during the late 1800s, when groups arrived from Canada, Italy, Germany, Ireland, China, England, Portugal, Scotland and the Pacific Islands. The first official mention of Half Moon Bay is on an 1854 Coast Survey sketch of Spanishtown.
Before Highway One was built, Prohibition (1920 to 1933) had caused a proliferation of speakeasies along the coast. This area’s hidden coves and thick fog made it perfect for the eagerly awaited ships of Canadian rumrunners to unload their illegal whiskey onto smaller boats headed north to San Francisco.
Natural History
The rugged coastline of Half Moon Bay State Beach, one-half-mile west of Highway One on Kelly Avenue, consists of four smaller beaches with a two-mile crescent of shore- line. Over the years geologic movement and nearly constant erosion have created a diverse system of mountains, canyons and marine terraces. Located within the active San Andreas and Seal Cove-San Gregorio- Palo Colorado fault zones, the coastline shows the uplifting, faulting and folding actions of mi
Link to Park: [Web Link]
Park Fees: Not listed
Date Established?: Not listed
Additional Entrance Points: Not Listed
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