The Lighthouse Hostels

The Lighthouse at Pescadoro pen and ink 5" X 8"


This is the lighthouse at Pescadero Point located on the California coast just a little bit south of San Francisco. The buildings drawn in the picture use to be living quarters for the coast guard, but nowadays they have been converted to a hostel under the auspices of Hostelling International.

This is the second of two popular California lighthouse hostels, the other being the Montara Light just ouside the city limits of San Francisco. The amazing thing about these two places is that they both sit on buslines that runs along the coast from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. In fact the Montara locale is also on a busline that runs out of the city by the bay. Yet both lighthouses are relatively uncrowded despite their stunning locations and near proximity to large urban areas.

The bus ride from Pescadero is as interesting bus ride that you will find in the US. There is only one bus a day, which you board at the lonely windswept peninsula at Pigeon Point and head south through the spectacular California coastline until you reach Big Basin State Park. Here you are dropped off for a three hour wait til the Santa Cruz bus is due. Have no fear about the wait, for at your feet is the beginning of a hiking trail that leads through an extensive old growth Redwood forest. The only thing that you really have to worry about, is pulling yourself away from the trail in time to make it back to the highway to jump on the bus. On second thought maybe that should not be a major concern for it only ten miles into the college town of Santa Cruz; well worth the trouble to spend the extra time in the Redwoods.