Point Lobos

For more than a century, the incomparable beauty of Point Lobos has drawn admirers from around the world. The jagged rock outcroppings, driftwood-strewn beaches, and silhouetted cypress trees, twisted grotesquely by the wind, were favorite subjects for photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Point Lobos is also a favorite playground for seals, sea lions, and otters, and migrating grey whales pass just offshore. Barking sea lions reminded 18th-century Spanish explorers of sea wolves, in their tongue, lobos marinos, and so they named it Point of the Sea Wolves. Now a California State Reserve, Point Lobos draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.