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  • Mitchell Cove: Erosion of a Sea Stack

    Posted by Ranger Gaudinski
    |Date: March 24, 2016
    | (2) Comments
    Mitchell Cove: Erosion of a Sea Stack

    Mitchell Cove: Erosion of a Sea Stack

    Mitchell Cove beach, along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, has lost its stack. Its iconic roc ...

    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 er ...

    March 24, 2016
    | by Ranger Gaudinski
    | (2) Comments
    Read more
  • Swabby and American War Dogs from WWI to Iraq

    Posted by Ranger Gaudinski
    |Date: May 25, 2015
    | 0 comments
    Swabby and American War Dogs from WWI to Iraq

    Swabby and American War Dogs from WWI to Iraq

    Swabby was a German shepherd and member of the Marine K-9 Corps during WWII. His remains lie in a grave a ...

    Swabby was a German shepherd and member of the Marine K-9 Corps during WWII. His remains lie in a grave at the slightly dilapidated Pine Knoll Pet Cemetery, in Santa Cruz, California. He was one of se ...

    May 25, 2015
    | by Ranger Gaudinski
    | 0 comments
    Read more
  • Holy City: Father Riker’s Cult in the Santa Cruz Mountains

    Posted by Ranger Lautamo
    |Date: April 30, 2015
    | (2) Comments
    Holy City: Father Riker’s Cult in the Santa Cruz Mountains

    Holy City: Father Riker’s Cult in the Santa Cruz Mountains

    For several decades in the 1900s eight Santa Claus statues welcomed motorists driving along the Old Santa ...

    For several decades in the 1900s eight Santa Claus statues welcomed motorists driving along the Old Santa Cruz Highway to a mysterious place called Holy City. The “city” -- a tiny town that took five ...

    April 30, 2015
    | by Ranger Lautamo
    | (2) Comments
    Read more
  • “Mountain Charley” McKiernan: Fighting Grizzlies in the Santa Cruz Mountains

    Posted by Ranger Lautamo
    |Date: February 04, 2015
    | (2) Comments
    “Mountain Charley” McKiernan: Fighting Grizzlies in the Santa Cruz Mountains

    “Mountain Charley” McKiernan: Fighting Grizzlies in the Santa Cruz Mountains

    “Mountain Charley” McKiernan had finally met his match. Face to face with a 1,000 pound grizzly bear, sta ...

    “Mountain Charley” McKiernan had finally met his match. Face to face with a 1,000 pound grizzly bear, standing almost ten feet tall on her haunches, McKiernan was acutely aware of his mortality. Her p ...

    February 04, 2015
    | by Ranger Lautamo
    | (2) Comments
    Read more
  • The Best Thing to Do with Ice Plant in California? Pickle it!

    Posted by Ranger Gaudinski
    |Date: February 01, 2015
    | (2) Comments
    The Best Thing to Do with Ice Plant in California? Pickle it!

    The Best Thing to Do with Ice Plant in California? Pickle it!

    Most of the ice plant you see in California is all the same species: Highway ice plant (Carpobrotus eduli ...

    Most of the ice plant you see in California is all the same species: Highway ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis). As the common name indicates, it has been widely planted in California along highways for s ...

    February 01, 2015
    | by Ranger Gaudinski
    | (2) Comments
    Read more
  • Is Highway 17 That Dangerous or Is It Just Laurel Curve?

    Posted by Ranger Lautamo
    |Date: December 17, 2014
    | (14) Comments
    Is Highway 17 That Dangerous or Is It Just Laurel Curve?

    Is Highway 17 That Dangerous or Is It Just Laurel Curve?

    The narrow lanes and dangerously tight curves of California’s Highway 17 have earned it ominous nicknames ...

    The narrow lanes and dangerously tight curves of California’s Highway 17 have earned it ominous nicknames like “Killer 17” and “Blood Alley”. In the mid-60s philanthropist Harvey West tried to slow do ...

    December 17, 2014
    | by Ranger Lautamo
    | (14) Comments
    Read more
  • One-Eyed Charley: The Cross-Dressing Stagecoach Driver

    Posted by Ranger Lautamo
    |Date: November 09, 2014
    | (6) Comments
    One-Eyed Charley: The Cross-Dressing Stagecoach Driver

    One-Eyed Charley: The Cross-Dressing Stagecoach Driver

    Driving from San Jose to Santa Cruz over Highway 17 is a pretty harrowing 40 minutes with tight twisting ...

    Driving from San Jose to Santa Cruz over Highway 17 is a pretty harrowing 40 minutes with tight twisting curves and crazy drivers. Just imagine driving a team of six horses and a stagecoach full of pa ...

    November 09, 2014
    | by Ranger Lautamo
    | (6) Comments
    Read more
  • Ghost Towns of Lexington Reservoir: Lexington

    Posted by Ranger Lautamo
    |Date: October 31, 2014
    | (21) Comments
    Ghost Towns of Lexington Reservoir: Lexington

    Ghost Towns of Lexington Reservoir: Lexington

    Post Updated on April 13, 2016 Thanks to the plentiful El Niño rains, in early April, Lexington Reservoir ...

    Post Updated on April 13, 2016 Thanks to the plentiful El Niño rains, in early April, Lexington Reservoir was at 69% capacity. That's compared to 23% in February of this year. At current levels, the e ...

    October 31, 2014
    | by Ranger Lautamo
    | (21) Comments
    Read more
  • The Wave Motor: Still Pumping

    Posted by Ranger Gaudinski
    |Date: October 13, 2014
    | (4) Comments
    The Wave Motor: Still Pumping

    The Wave Motor: Still Pumping

    Thanks to Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam.com, we are updating this story with his great aerial video of the ...

    Thanks to Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam.com, we are updating this story with his great aerial video of the wave motor pumping it out in February, 2015. Along West Cliff Drive, just east of Natural Brid ...

    October 13, 2014
    | by Ranger Gaudinski
    | (4) Comments
    Read more

Search for a Specific Place or Subject

Testimonial

“I really appreciate Mobile Ranger. As a guy who has explored California’s ghost towns and back roads all my life, MR is right up my alley, so to speak. Thanks and keep them coming!”

Santa Cruz

  • Yes, A Library Was Really There!
  • Santa Cruz County Flag: Rainbow Vision
  • The Surf Scoter: A Surfing Bird
  • San Lorenzo River: What’s in a Watershed: Part I
  • UCSC’s Glass Gardens in the Sky
  • Santa Cruz’s Seaport Dreams: How Surfing Almost Wasn’t
  • Santa Cruz’s Westside: A Vegetable Packing Hub
  • Historic Lime Kilns of UCSC: The Continuous Kiln

Geology

  • The Sandhills of Santa Cruz: There’s Shark Teeth Underneath
  • The Loma Prieta Earthquake: Many Memories
  • Bonny Doon Beach: Railroads and Oil
  • The Huge Boulders Along the Santa Cruz Shoreline: A Common Coastal Story
  • Below the Buildings: Karst and Construction at UCSC
  • The Wave Motor: Still Pumping
  • Historic Lime Kilns of UCSC
  • The Rocks of Santa Cruz’s Central Coast: The Purisima Formation

Marine Life

  • Seasons in the Sanctuary: A Crowd-funded Poster Project
  • Do You Know Your Seagulls?
  • The Santa Cruz Wharf: Is that a Sea Lion or Seal?
  • The Surf Scoter: A Surfing Bird
  • Migration Madness: The Sooty Shearwaters are Back!
  • Brown Pelicans: Quite the Change in Wardrobe
  • Seasons in the Sea
  • Humpback Heaven!

Highway 1 (Central California)

  • Patricia M. Scully: Her Memorial Road Sign Matters
  • Why is the Golden Gate Bridge Orange?
  • Collecting Ancient Rocks in Bloomers at Pescadero’s Pebble Beach
  • Railroad Embankments on Santa Cruz’s North Coast: Why You Can’t See the Ocean More!
  • The Cool Staircase-Shaped Hills North of Santa Cruz
  • Santa Cruz’s Nuclear Power Plant That Almost Was
  • Elkhorn Slough: Interface Between Land and Sea
  • The Waddell Bluffs: The Wall Keeps Tumbling Down

Highway 17

  • Marianne’s Ice Cream: Santa Cruz Locals’ Flavorite
  • Redwood Estates and Easy Living in the Santa Cruz Mountains
  • Swabby and American War Dogs from WWI to Iraq
  • Holy City: Father Riker’s Cult in the Santa Cruz Mountains
  • “Mountain Charley” McKiernan: Fighting Grizzlies in the Santa Cruz Mountains
  • Is Highway 17 That Dangerous or Is It Just Laurel Curve?
  • A Thanksgiving Feast from the Year 1900
  • One-Eyed Charley: The Cross-Dressing Stagecoach Driver

Highway 35/ Skyline Boulevard

  • Highway 35: Old La Honda Road Winds into the Past
  • Highway 35: Alice in Skylonda Land
  • The Making of Skyline Boulevard
  • Grizzly Flat: Why so much Open Space?
  • Skyline Boulevard: The Ever Evolving Saratoga Gap
  • Vista Point: The Heavens Above San Francisco Bay
  • Windy Hill: Open in the Hills of San Mateo County
  • Alpine Road: Gateway to Two Open Space Preserves

Most Popular

  • Marianne’s Ice Cream: Santa Cruz Locals’ Flavorite
  • Highway 35: Old La Honda Road Winds into the Past
  • Ohlone, Coastanoan or Awaswas: Correcting History’s Misnomers
  • California’s Migrant Mother: An Unwilling Icon
  • Moffett Field’s Hangar One Goes from Navy’s Dirigibles to Google’s Robots
  • Lulu Carpenter’s: The Sign of the Seamstress
  • Ghost Towns of Lexington Reservoir: Lexington
  • Bound for the Sea: Pilkington Creek

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About Mobile Ranger

We provide you with inspiring stories and fun information about the natural and human history of interesting places. It's like having a park ranger with you.

Our one-of-a-kind self-guided mobile tours and blog posts help you connect to a place, either outside, at the site, or from your living room.

Download our apps about the Santa Cruz coast or read our blog posts about Santa Cruz, greater California, and beyond.

Local Knowledge and Passion

We work with historians, naturalists, and organizations whose experts know and love particular places. We use their deep knowledge to create great stories that bring their favorite places alive for you.

Do you or an organization you work or volunteer for have photos and high-quality natural or human history information about your local place? If you want to get it into an app and up on the web, contact Chief Ranger Julia Gaudinski: julia@mobileranger.com
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