El Capitán State Beach is a protected

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

in the

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

system of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The most easterly of three state parks along the

Gaviota Coast The Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County, California is a rural coastline along the Santa Barbara Channel roughly bounded by Goleta Point on the south and the north boundary of the county on the north. This last undeveloped stretch of Southe ...

, it is located about west of downtown Santa Barbara, in

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, officially the County of Santa Barbara (), is a county located in Southern California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa M ...

. The beach is named for

José Francisco Ortega José Francisco Ortega (1734 – February 1798) was a New Spanish soldier and early settler of Alta California. He joined the military at the age of twenty-one and rose to the rank of sergeant by the time he joined the Portola expedition in 1769. ...

, who retired from the Spanish Army in 1795 with the rank of captain and received the

Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio The Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio ("Ranch of Our Lady of Refuge") was a Spanish land grant to José Francisco Ortega in 1794 and is the only land grant made under Spanish and confirmed by USA in 1866 to Jose Maria Ortega under the US Suprem ...

as a land grant.

Features

El Capitán has a day-use beach as well as a campground with 131 sites (6 of which are RV only) and 5 group sites. There are

tide pool A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. These pools typically range from a few inches to a few feet deep and a few feet across. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only ...

s on the beach and sycamore and oak trees in the campground area.

Monarch butterflies The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. ...

congregate at El Capitán in autumn to breed.

History

The parkland was acquired between 1953 and 1967 and the State Parks Commission classified El Capitán State Beach in June of 1962. In 2002 the state acquired at a discount from the owners of El Capitan Ranch. The property rises above the existing park through oak woodlands and chaparral to the ridgelines of the

Santa Ynez Mountains The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America. It is the westernmost range in the Transverse Ranges. The range is a large fault block of Cenozoic age created ...

. The Refugio oil spill occurred just north of nearby

Refugio State Beach Refugio State Beach (Chumash: Qasil, "Beautiful") is a protected state beach park in California, United States, approximately west of Santa Barbara. One of three state parks along the Gaviota Coast, it is west of El Capitán State Beach. T ...

in 2015 when a pipeline carrying

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

ruptured. The spill went into a culvert that ran under

US 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

and into the ocean. The spill spread over of coastline, including El Capitán and Refugio state beaches. Both parks were closed for much of the summer during the clean-up, including during the typically busy

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

weekend. The pipeline which caused the disaster is no longer in service. In 2016, the park's water system was destroyed when the

Sherpa Fire The Sherpa Fire was a wildfire that burned in the Santa Ynez Mountains along the Gaviota Coast in the southwestern part of Santa Barbara County, California in June 2016. In a matter of hours the fire spread to over as the fire was propelled by ...

swept through a canyon near the main campgrounds. The park had already closed due to the smoke and fire danger. In 2021, a project removed barriers for

steelhead trout Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacif ...

swimming upstream to reproduce by rebuilding the entrance bridge. In January 2023, the park water system and entrance road experienced catastrophic damage from significant rainfall, prompting evacuations of park staff and closing the park for repairs. Park damages from the storm totaled $11.9 million, the third most expensive damage caused by the storm system to California State Parks. An update to the 1979 General Plan which included an inventory of wildlife, historic, and archeological assets and an outline of issues and concerns was started in 2024.

Gaviota State Park Gaviota State Park is a state park of California, United States. It is located in southern Santa Barbara County, California, about west of the city of Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. One of three state parks along the Gaviota Coast, ...

and Refugio State beach will be included in the recommendations for modernizing the infrastructure, adapting to climate change impacts and providing sustainable recreational opportunities.{{Cite news , last=Dallow , first=Lily , date=2024-05-03 , title=California State Parks starts general planning process for El Capitán, Refugio State beaches and Gaviota State Park , url=https://keyt.com/news/santa-barbara-s-county/2024/05/02/california-state-parks-starts-general-planning-process-for-el-capitan-refugio-state-beaches-and-gaviota-state-park/ , access-date=2024-06-25 , work=KEYT News Channel 3-12 , language=en-US

Gallery

File:El-capitán-welcome-sign.jpg, Welcome sign. File:El-capitán-amphitheater.jpg, Amphitheater at campground. File:El-capitán-lifeguard.jpg, Lifeguard station. File:El-capitán-west-beach.jpg, View of beach looking west.

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{Commons category
El Capitán State Beach
{{Protected areas of California, SP {{DEFAULTSORT:El Capitan State Beach 1953 establishments in California Beaches of Southern California California State Beaches Campgrounds in California Parks in Santa Barbara County, California Protected areas established in 1953 Beaches of Santa Barbara County, California

Features

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links