By Jennifer Best

We sought privacy, an escape from the crowds, peace in which to enjoy the crash of waves on rocky shores and sandy beaches. We found it all in the coves and beaches of northern San Luis Obispo County.

You want long stretches of sand? Try Atascadero State Beach, Morro Strand State Beach, Cayucos State Beach.

Looking for tide pools? Head to Moonstone Beach, Montana de Oro, Lampton Cliffs County Park or any of a number of coastal access points off Sherwood Drive in Cambria.

Want to see them all? Plan a long trip and return time and again, like Nancy and Bob Speaker of Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

San Simeon Shines
"We've come every year for the past five years just because if this," Nancy said, her eyes turning back to her bluff top view of the Pacific at Leffingwell Landing at San Simeon State Park. "It's so quiet and beautiful."

This time, the Speakers stayed in San Simeon five weeks.

"Friend ask what we do while we're here," Nancy said. "Well, we get up, go out for breakfast, walk the beach, pick up rocks and watch the waves and people and boats. We love it!"

Ask them to choose a favorite local beach and they're stumped. They finally agree to name their top three: San Simeon State Beach, and W.R. Hearst Memorial Beach in San Simeon, and Leffingwell Landing in Cambria.

W.R. Hearst Memorial Beach in San Simeon is a south-facing cove that's usually sunny and warm. The ocean is usually a beautiful green-blue color in the cove, almost like a jewel. Across the street from the beach are some historic buildings used as warehouses for the art and construction materials shipped in during the building of Hearst Castle, just up the hill. (Click Here to read more about Hearst Castle).

An old general store and post office sits there as well. Jutting out into the cove is a pier, perfect for walking with kids or fishing. It's also a spot to catch a sport-fishing boat for a day or a half-day on the ocean. Or you can just enjoy the cove and beach, carved out of tree-covered San Simeon Point. The beach doubled as a Central American cove during a 1980s film-shoot of one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's early shoot-em-up action movies.

Photo by Jennifer Best

Leffingwell Landing & Moonstone Beach, Cambria
Leffingwell Landing, north of Moonstone Beach in Cambria, is a grassy bluff-top park featuring Monterey Pines, picnic benches, barbecue grills and restrooms. Families play on the sandy beach below, enjoy picnics in the grass, and watch seals on nearby rocks.

"This is like a Norman Rockwell painting," said Dorothy Hebert, a 30-year resident of Cambria. "You've got kayakers, kids playing on the beach and in the water, people enjoying picnics. It's wonderful!"

Hebert walks along the Leffingwell Landing bluff top trails daily with her husband, Deni, and their dog, Candy. The trails are in the process of being replaced with wooden boardwalks. Winter rains used to muddy the trails, making them nearly impassible, the Herberts explain. The new boardwalk, wide enough for strollers and wheelchairs, makes the bluff more accessible throughout the year.

"Most people stay up on the paths, so you can still find some solitude on the beach in some of the coves," said Mark Booker of Cayucos. "We can spend hours just searching through the stone piles looking for treasures: odd pieces of shell that tell some old stories; funny pieces of driftwood; tiny pieces of rock whose beauty are beyond description; all while the surf deafens you to the world beyond the cliffs."

Kelley Uyeoka of Kailua, Hawaii, rested her chin on her car's windowsill as she gazed out at the sea and said her farewell after a midday visit. She and three friends were on their first trip up Highway 1 during a break from their university home of San Diego.

"I like this one the best," she said. "It's got the rocks and sand and the water's cleaner than at some of the beaches further down."

"Each individual rock has so much character," said coed Danielle Suslak of Boston, Mass.

Leffingwell Landing and Moonstone Beach are among the more well known beaches in and around Cambria and San Simeon. They're visible from Highway One and Moonstone Beach Drive.

But Cambria's residential areas are also full of small rocky coves perfect for solitude and tidepooling. They're a little tricky to find, though. (Click Here for directions to beaches.)

Once you find Sherwood Drive, look for the "Coastal Access" signs and you'll find stairs and trails between the cliffhanging houses, leading to the public beaches. Remember, you're in a residential neighborhood: park politely and carry out your own trash.

Sherwood Drive also takes you to East-West Ranch, a beautiful stretch of coastline that until recently was a cattle ranch. Now it's public open space area, open to everyone. Hiking trails lead along the cliffs, and connect with Windsor Boulevard at the northern end.

If you're traveling with children, they're sure to like Shamel County Park on Windsor Boulevard. Take Windsor Drive west from Highway 1 and follow it to the lovely seaside park. The park sports a large grassy square surrounded by trees, a perfect spot for Frisbee tossing and running around or just plain resting and reading. The park is right on the beach, which offers a gentle stretch of sand, rocks, shells and driftwood at that spot.

While surfers enjoy the swell at the southern end of Moonstone Beach, the currents along this stretch of the North Coast are hazardous for swimmers and young waders, so keep a close eye on young children and pets.

Photo By Jennifer Best

Morro Strand State Beach, Morro Bay: Gentle Surf and Primo Shells
For gentle surf and warm, flat sands, many families prefer Cayucos State Beach in Cayucos, the south-facing W.R. Hearst Memorial Beach in San Simeon, and Morro Strand State Beach just north of Morro Bay.

"We like the access and the water here is nice and shallow," said Erny Lowry of Morro Bay during a visit to "The Strand" with wife Teresa and their daughter, Justine. "The sand dollar hunting here is also primo."

For Rick Duran of Morro Bay, the Strand provides his children a place to run without facing the crowds. "Plus, it's a nice place to go tidepooling," said Duran's 7-year-old son, Derik.

A favorite spot for local families, old-timers and visitors alike is Atascadero State Beach - a little confusing, since the town Atascadero is about a half-hour inland, up Highway 41. It's a wonderful wide stretch of flat sand that rolls gently into the sea; so gently that the spot is one of the places new surfers go to learn how to stay upright on their boards. (Be warned, though: the surf around Morro Rock itself is for pros only).

The south entrance to Atascadero State Beach is at the end of Atascadero Road. (Take the Atascadero Road off ramp from Highway 1 and head west, past Morro Bay High School). There's also a nice new entrance on the north end of Atascadero State Beach. Take Highway 1 to the light at San Joaquin Drive and turn left; you'll see the new parking area and restrooms right on the beach.

Aside from the sweeping stretch of Morro Strand north of Morro Rock, the coastal town of Morro Bay also offers a few hidden access spots. Look for "Coastal access" signs along Studio Drive in Morro Bay to check them out.

Cayucos: Family Fun
And then there's Cayucos - a tiny, sunny, funky beach town on Highway One, between Morro Bay and Cambria. Cayucos is a trip in itself - and the perfect place to beach with kids. The wide, flat sands are only steps away from ice cream parlors and taquerias - a blessing for anyone with hungry children (or grown-ups). Cayucos is a south-facing beach that's likely to see the fog burn off before Morro Bay - another important consideration in choosing beaches.

Can you visit all the Hidden Beaches of the North Coast in one day? You could. (Click Here for a list of the Hidden Beaches of the North Coast and how to get to them.)

But why rush it? One at a time is a lot of fun.

Writer Jennifer Best is a Central Coast native who likes to explore the beaches with her husband and baby.

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