We are now at Scotts Valley, just inland from Santa Cruz.

This morning we drove to Marina State Beach to explore the largest sand dunes on the coast. Part of the route was on sand and part on a boardwalk. It is a conservation area with quite a few endangered species.


This is the beach species of the Indian Paintbrush which is able to colonise large areas of bare sand.


This is a Californian Poppy and we were only able to find this example in the whole of our walk.

Now we are further north we are seeing the first signs of Autumn.

In the afternoon we visited Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and walked the circular path around an area of giant redwood trees. We had forgotten how big they really are and how dark it is underneath them. Some of these trees are getting on for 2,000 years old.

Today has been a cooler and cloudier day so was a good time to walk some of the trails.