From huge whale bones to megalodon teeth, California is full of fossils. Here are some gorgeous hikes to explore them.
Head to the Bollinger Canyon staging area at Las Trampas Wilderness Regional Preserve and you’ll notice boulders full of white shards. Some 28 million years ago, ahippo-type creature called Desmostylus spent its days here, crunching up molluscs like potato chips and spitting out the shells. These boulders contain what dropped from its mouth, preserved for eternity in the fossil record.
“There’s evidence of aquatic California all over the place in the hills out here in the East Bay,” says Ashley Adams, a naturalist with the East Bay Regional Park District. “There are all kinds of different aquatic snails and shell fossils. And there are some really cool giant oyster fossils, way bigger than you would ever have on your plate today – like, the size of my face.”
“This is California’s 50 million-year-old history and some of the only places we can see it, so we want to protect it,” says Adams.Located east of Santa Cruz, Capitola is a charming little city where everyone seems to carry an ice-cream cone or a surfboard. Head to Capitola Beach, then walk left along the coastline toward New Brighton State Beach to experience one of the most spectacular fossil hunts around .
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