Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
At a signposted vista point, around 4.5 miles north of Hearst Castle, you can observe a
colony of northern elephant seals bigger than the one at Año Nuevo State Reserve near
Santa Cruz. During peak winter season, about 18,000 seals seek shelter in the coves and
beaches along this stretch of coast. On sunny days the seals usually 'lie around like banana
slugs,' in the words of one volunteer. Interpretative panels along a beach boardwalk and
behavior of these giant beasts.
EYEING ELEPHANT SEALS
The elephant seals that visit coastal California each year follow a precise calendar. In
November and December, bulls (adult males) return to their colony's favorite California
beaches and start the ritual struggles to assert superiority. Only the largest, strongest
and most aggressive 'alpha' males gather a harem of nubile females. In January and
February, adult females, already pregnant from last year's beach antics, give birth to pups
and soon mate with the dominant males, who promptly depart on their next feeding mi-
gration. The bulls' motto is 'love 'em and leave 'em.'
At birth an elephant seal pup weighs about 75lb; while being fed by its mother, it puts
on about 10lb a day. Female seals leave the beach in March, abandoning their offspring.
For up to two months the young seals, now known as 'weaners,' lounge around in groups,
gradually learning to swim, first in tidal pools, then in the ocean. The weaners depart by
May, having lost 20% to 30% of their weight during a prolonged fast.
Between June and October, elephant seals of all ages and both sexes return in smaller
numbers to the beaches to molt. Always observe elephant seals from a safe distance
(minimum 25ft) and do not approach or otherwise harass these unpredictable wild anim-
als, who surprisingly can move faster on the sand than you can!
Hearst Castle
The most important thing to know about William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) is that he
did not live like
Citizen Kane
. Not that Hearst wasn't bombastic, conniving and larger than
life, but the moody recluse of Orson Welles' movie? Definitely not. Hearst also didn't call
his 165-room estate a castle, preferring its official name,
La Cuesta Encantada
('The En-
chanted Hill'), or more often calling it simply 'the ranch.' From the 1920s into the '40s,
Hearst and Marion Davies, his longtime mistress (Hearst's wife refused to grant him a di-
