Acid Beach

USA / California / Boulder Creek /
Although the Pacific plate is generally in subduction where it meets the North American plate, the California coast is dominated by a complex of strike-slip zones associated with the San Andreas fault. Between Waddell Creek and Scott Creek are several miles where the active San Gregorio transform boundry runs right along the shore line, producing a tortured moonscape where the sea floor is moving in one direction and the shore is moving in the other.
This unusual topography is almost 100 per cent invisible from dry land. This half mile of shore line is also know as "the notches." The original "Acid Beach" is this tiny cove, accessable only by boat. There was once a precarious foot path to this cove, but it has long since been eroded away.
Aerial view courtesy of www.californiacoastline.org
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transform_boundry
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   37°4'22"N   122°15'39"W

Comments

  • In 1969 this was one of the places I stayed off and on throughout the spring & summer, scrambling down the barely there path across the natural arch with my dog and occasional girlfriends. I don't think I ever saw anybody down there that I hadn't brought myself. The path was treacherous but I got so I could run up and down it with ease, under any psychic conditions. There were a couple of shacks built of driftwood , and one night when me & a girl called "Nurk" were tripping & balling, somebody pushed a yellow dumptruck, stolen from up the road, over the cliff with it's lights on. This was a special, amazing place.
  • I've been there many a time. the most beautiful beach in california , maybe the world.
This article was last modified 11 years ago