Oceanography Fieldtrip
Directions to Fieldtrip Stops
Garrapata Beach
Fieldtrip Stop #1 – Olmsted Road – Monterey Formation Roadcut
Start at Monterey Peninsula College
1. Go north on highway 1
2. Exit onto CA-68 East towards Salinas
3. Drive 1.7 miles
4. At stoplight, turn right onto Olmsted road.
5. Drive about 0.4 miles.
Look for at big road cut of sedimentary rocks on the left.
Enter 36.5764 -121.8555 into smart phones to get very close to this location.
What to do once you’re there:
1. Examine the rocks in the roadcut for grainsize and composition.
2. Take a picture of your smiling face with the rocks in the background
3. Answer the questions in the handout.
Fieldtrip stop #2 – Fort Ord Dunes State Park
From Highway 1 travelling north
1. Take the Lightfighter Drive exit towards CSUMB
2. Drive about 0.2 miles on Lightfighter
3. At a stoplight, turn left onto 2nd Ave
4. Drive about 0.4 miles
5. Turn left onto Divarty St (look carefully for signs pointing to Ft Ord Dunes State Park)
6. Drive about 0.3 miles
7. Take first right onto 1st Ave.
8. Drive about 0.3 miles
9. Turn left onto 5th St
10. Drive about 0.4 miles
11. Turn left onto 8th St (look carefully for signs for all of these steps)
12. Drive to the parking lot and park.
Enter “Ft Ord Dunes State Park” into smart phones for directions
Fieldtrip Stop #2 – Fort Ord Dunes State Park – What to do once you’re there.
1. Walk out to the overlook on top of the bluffs that looks out over the ocean.
2. Read the explanatory signs near the parking lot. There are several of them.
3. Answer the questions in the handout.
4. Take a picture of your smiling face with the site of the old Stillwell Hall in the
background.
5. Walk the trail down to the beach.
6. Answer questions in the handout.
7. Take a picture of your smiling face with the seacliff in the background.
Stop #3 – Monastery Beach
Drive south on highway 1.
1. From the intersection of Rio Road and Highway 1 in Carmel,
2. Drive 1.3 miles south on Highway 1. If you get to Pt Lobos, you’ve gone too far.
3. Park on pullout on the right toward the ocean.
4. Walk out onto the beach.
Enter “Monastery Beach” into smart phones.
What to do once you get there.
1. Walk out onto the beach.
2. Examine the shape of the beach and the size of the grains on the beach.
3. Answer the questions in the handout.
4. Take a picture of your smiling face with Monastery Beach in the background
Fieldtrip Stop #4 – Garrapata Beach
Starting at Monastery Beach
1. Drive south on Highway 1 for 8.2
miles
2. Park on the long pullout on the right
(ocean side of the highway)
3. Look for the pathway shown in the
image to the left, and follow it to the
beach. You should find stairs at the end,
leading to the beach.
What to do when you’re there.
1. Look at the turbidite deposits in the seacliff.
2. Look for the San Gregorio Fault beneath the stairs.
3. Take a photograph of your smiling face with the beach in the background.
Fieldtrip Stop #5 – Hurricane Point
Look for the rock in the image above.
The Hurricane Point pullout is 13.3 miles south of Monastery Beach, 5.1 miles south of
Garrapata Beach, and 1.4 miles south of Bixby Bridge.
Enter 36.3532 -121.9013 into your smart phone.
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2.
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5.
Drive south on highway 1.
Find Bixby Bridge; which is a famous Big Sur landmark.
Set your odometer.
Drive 1.4 miles south from Bixby Bridge.
Look for the pullout with the big rock and the view as shown in the image above.
What to do once you get there
1. Get out and look at the view.
2. Answer the questions in the handout
3. Take a picture of your smiling face with the view of Pt Sur in the background
Fieldtrip Stop #6 – Andrew Molera State Park and the Mouth of the Big Sur River
To access Andrew Molera State Park, we’ll park at a pullout north of the vehicle entrance to the
Andrew Molera parking lot. Look for the view in the image above, with a trail leading downhill
towards an old structure called Cooper Cabin.
The pullout is 7.9 miles south of Bixby Bridge and 6.5 miles south of the Hurricane Point stop.
To find the pullout:
Enter 36.2667 -121.8512 in your smart phone.
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5.
Drive south on highway 1.
Find Bixby Bridge; which is a famous Big Sur landmark.
Set your odometer.
Drive 7.9 miles south from Bixby Bridge.
Look for the pullout with the trail leading from it as shown in the image above.
What to do once you’re there:
1. Walk down the trail towards the Cooper Cabin
2. At the trail intersection, turn right towards the ocean
3. After approximately 0.25 miles, turn right at another trail intersection. You want to get up
above to the right of the trail and walk out to a point that enables you to look back at the
mouth of the Big Sur River.
4. Answer the quetions in the handout
5. Take a photograph of yourself with the Big Sur River in the background