Monterey Area State Parks CA vs Trekking Through Time

The official app of California State Parks Monterey District. This app provides exclusive audio tours created by California State Parks Monterey District Interpreters (Educators), Rangers and docents. Through these educational interpretive tours, visitors and armchair travelers alike can learn more about the Monterey area’s diverse natural and cultural history sites. This app features six audio tours with over 100 points of interest in the Monterey District which has 23 park units. The Monterey District office is located at 2211 Garden Road, Monterey, California 93940. The phone number is (831) 649-2836. In addition to audio, the app features basic park information, image galleries, historic photos, and audio transcriptions. GPS maps allow visitors to explore the area and locate nearby sites. Audio tours include: • Fort Ord Dunes State Park • Asilomar State Beach & Conference Grounds • Big Sur Parks • Monterey State Historic Park • San Juan Bautista State Historic Park • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve With 280 park units across 1.59 million acres, California State Parks contains the largest and most diverse natural and cultural heritage holdings of any state agency in the nation. These parks protect and preserve an unparalleled collection of culturally and environmentally sensitive structures and habitats, threatened plant and animal species, ancient Native American sites, historic structures, and artifacts. Monterey District has the amazing parks featured in these mobile tours, but also includes Henry Coe State Park which is the largest park in Northern California. The district has coastal beaches starting at Zmudowski State Beach and going south to Monterey State Beach. Fort Ord Dunes State Park alone has 4 miles of shoreline. Visitors can see sea otters, migrating gray whales, and birds at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park has trails where you can see redwoods, the river, and a waterfall. If you want to learn about history you can visit several historic units: Monterey State Historic Park, San Juan Bautista State Historic Park, and Point Sur State Historic Park. You may also enjoy a visit to Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds and learn about Julia Morgan, California’s first woman architect, who designed many of Asilomar’s Arts and Craft style buildings.

The 120-acre Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area (JILONA) was designated by Congress in 2008 for the preservation, protection and enhancement of seven key resources and values reflecting the remarkable biodiversity and rich, 6,000 year history of the site. These are Historic, Natural, and Cultural Resources and Scientific, Educational, Recreational, and Scenic Values. The site is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Visitors to the site can enjoy exploring along marked trails, observing native plants and animals, or getting in the water along the shoreline. All the ways we enjoy the shoreline and the ONA are part of a rich legacy of use of the area. People have been traveling and living in this area for 6,000 years, long before construction of the lighthouse on site. The area's strategic location rendered it as important throughout this time, from use by Indigenous groups like the Jeaga and Jobe, through to post World War II use of the site by the Coast Guard. Using our Trekking through Time app, you can learn what life would have been like in the past through augmented reality with our virtual tour guide, explore archaeological objects from the past, and imagine what this place might have looked like.