The top 5 places to hike, bike and celebrate longer days in Santa Cruz.
by Traci Hukill
March 6, 2014—This Sunday, March 9, Daylight Savings Time kicks in. Dates will be missed and appointments screwed up for a couple of days, but it's a small price to pay. We'll be able to play outside a full hour longer each day without risking grave bodily harm. We'll save electricity. Many of us will feel happier. Some of us will lose weight.
Each year daylight savings feels to me, and to a lot of people I know, like an awning being torn off the roof of the world. The reason for this is not a mystery. The sun will set at 6:10pm on Saturday and then, abruptly, at 7:10pm on Sunday, and it will set about a minute later each day for quite a while after that. It will sink at 8:10pm on May 16, and then the rate of the lengthening days will slow; on the longest day of the year, June 21, it will set at 8:31pm. That's almost two and a half hours later than it sets today.
But the effects remain, to me at least, a mystery. For a while this event will turn me into some kind of human compass oriented to true west, chasing evening sun everywhere I can get it. I'm guessing I'm not alone in this. Here's where I'll be after work for the next few weeks—maybe I'll see you there, too.
Wilder Ranch State Park. The grasslands of this west-facing park get sunlight long after valleys and forests elsewhere in the county slip into the shadows. Best bets for hiking or mountain biking are Engelsmans Loop and, later in the season, Chinquapin to Long Meadow.
Manresa State Beach. If you spend your days anywhere south of Soquel or Capitola, this wide-open beach makes perfect sense as an after-work getaway, especially when low tide coincides with that happy hour. Look for that to happen next around March 16 or 17 and during the following days. (Check tide chart here.)
Rancho del Oso (Waddell Creek). Good if you're based on the Westside of Santa Cruz and can wiggle out of work a little early. It's only a half hour to Waddell, but you'll feel like you went on vacation. Good for a mellow in-and-out bike ride. Here's an intro to the spot: Berry Creek Falls from Waddell Beach.
26th Avenue. None of the Eastside beaches really face west, but the stretch of sand that runs from 26th all the way to 20th Avenue is positioned nicely to take advantage of late evening sun. Or you can just go to Twin Lakes and be right next to the Crow's Nest in case margaritas call.
West Cliff Drive. Well, duh. It's almost painfully obvious—but that's why it's the king of them all.
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