November 26, 2011. Photo: Mobile Ranger
January 22, 2013. Photo: Fran Scully*
May 2013. Photo: Victoria Stanbach*
May 2013. Photo: Victoria Stanbach*
January 13, 2015. Photo: Jae Casella*
January, 7, 2016. Photo: Mobile Ranger
May 2016. Photo: Mobile Ranger
Mitchell Cove beach, along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, has lost its stack. Its iconic rock tower, or sea stack to be more precise, is now merely a rock as result of constant coastal erosion. We hope you enjoy the time series photos (above) that span the time between late 2011 to early 2016.
If anyone has other photos to contribute from the same location that fill in the time series, either forward or backward in time, please email them to julia@mobileranger.com, and we will update this page. Earlier, the sea stack was a continuous part of the cliffs, so it would be great to see photos of that era.
Update October 29, 2016: Several people have contributed photos (thank you) and they are denoted with an asterisk after their name.
More Photos and Stories of West Cliff Drive Erosion
From Natural Bridges to Bird Rock: An Exploration Through Vintage Postcards and Photographs, by Frank Perry. Online History Journal of Santa Cruz County, September 2015.
From Three Bridges to an Arch, by Julia Gaudinski. Mobile Ranger.com website, September 8, 2014.
The Vue de L’eau: Vacation Hot Spot and Home of Many Arches, by Julia Gaudinski. Mobile Ranger.com website, February 16, 2015.
Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour
This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.
Nature at her best
Thanks so much to Mobile Ranger fan Jae Casella who sent in this photo of the Mitchell Cove sea stack from January 13, 2015. We have added it to the time series on the blog post.