Younger Lagoon

We went on a guided hike at UCSC’s Long Marine Lab. While there is an aquarium and many public trails, the land immediately adjacent to the lagoon is a research area and can only be accessed at certain times with a docent. It didn’t seem much different than the surrounding familiar beaches and trails, but it was fun to see what was behind the locked gate that we have passed many many times. The paths were bordered by shoulder high artemisia, which smells like sage in the warm sun, and frogs serenaded us from the undergrowth. Look for the cormorants up on the rock, and a line of pelicans fading off into the distance over the ocean.