Pescadero State Beach

During my first year in California, while driving along the coast, I remember thinking, "there sure are a lot of State Beaches." We passed beach after beach and it seemed as if one of every five was a State Beach with it's own parking lot, bathroom facility, trail system and other features that require maintenance and attention. It all seemed so random. There was a beautiful beach, left wild and undeveloped. "That one could be a State Beach, too," I thought. "Why isn't it?" The next one, not as spectacular, was a State Beach. The next few beaches, not State Beaches. The next, a State Beach. "Is there any rhyme or reason to this system?" Why call one a State Beach and invest taxpayer dollars into it while leaving another undeveloped.
We could see dozens of visitors enjoying every single beach, whether it had the State Beach boardwalk and staircase or if it required a long, steep, and even dangerous hike down 

the face of a bluff. If people take advantage of the beaches regardless, why not just leave all beaches wild and untouched and save some State Park money, too.  Over the years, the behind-the-scenes plan became more obvious.
 As we visited State Beach after State Beach, we could see that there was nothing random about which beach was designated a State Beach at all. State Beaches were selected and developed not just with the purpose of accessibility for visitors. They were selected based on their environmental significance. Preservation is the goal. A beach is often the coastal end of a many mile long watershed. Many of California's beaches front marshes and lagoons that are at the end of important freshwater creeks and streams. Now, looking carefully at maps, we can see that nearly every State Beach is the end of a stream that flows from the coastal mountains. At each State Beach, visitors can safely enjoy and learn about the importance of every piece in the water system and see all the wildlife that flourishes at places where freshwater and seawater meet.
Yesterday, we were at Pescadero State Beach, a perfect example of this union of goals. The State Park infrastructure made the beach, lagoon, and marsh at the confluence of the Pescadero and Butano Creeks easily accessible for us, even for Rai and Ko while the Park also continues to protect and preserve this important ecosystem. It has taken many years, and even more Parks visited, but I feel that only in the last few years have I started to fully understand and appreciate what the State Park system protects and preserves. Now, we just need to pass that on to Rai and Ko.