Tidepool Field Trip
Directions to Bean Hollow State Park
This is a dangerous place. Actually the greatest danger is inattention to the environment. A bit of care and respect is your best safeguard against injury.
Wear comfortable, warm clothing in layers so you can adjust to the weather of the moment. Bring a change of dry clothes...just in case. Boots or old shoes that can get wet are required. (Better a soaked foot than a tumble.) A small hand towel is a good idea. Rubber gloves?
Besides you the most dangerous animals are octopus and large crabs.
At least once during the field trip sit down quiet and still (alone?) near the edge of a tidepool. Wait to see who emerges from the shadows after a few minutes. See how many animals you can see from this one spot; within a foot of where you sit; within a meter. Notice how many different kinds there are and how many of each kind. Move to a different zone (closer to or further from the high water mark) and see how many of the animals there are the same as, how many different from, the animals in your first location.
If you turn over a rock to look beneath, put it back as you found it.
Directions to Bean Hollow Beach
From College of San Mateo take Highway 92 west toward the ocean.
11 miles west of CSM in Half Moon Bay turn left onto Highway 1 and continue south about 16 miles. Hwy 1 is the 2nd traffic light after you descend from the pass through the coastal hills.
Be careful of traffic coming onto Hwy 1 from side roads.
Some major landmarks you will pass:
San Gregorio Road and San Gregorio State Beach. (Keep going.)
A large lagoon on the left and an equally long range of sand dunes on the right with the highway passing between them. (Tempting but keep going. Check them out on the return?)
Pescadero Road and Pescadero State Beach. (Almost there. Keep going about 2 more miles.)
Bean Hollow State Beach: there is a parking lot and also some parking spots along the highway a bit past the entrance.