McGrath State Beach

McGrath State Beach has never been a front-page glamour spot in the California park system, but what it lacks in glitz it makes up for in grit and bird song. Wedged between the Santa Clara River, Oxnard’s ever-spreading neighborhoods, and the wide Pacific, McGrath is a kind of ecological crossroads. Walk here and you’ll brush shoulders (or wings) with more than 200 bird species, pass through three distinct watery environments, and get a sense of how fragile-and how persistent-our coast really is.

This two-mile stretch of shoreline has had more comebacks than a veteran boxer. The park nearly shut down in the 2010s when its plumbing system gave up the ghost and funds to fix it ran dry. Then came the floods: when the Santa Clara River couldn’t muster enough muscle to punch through the sand berm at its mouth, the river simply backed up, overflowed its low banks, and swamped the campground. Locals shook their heads, campers packed up soggy tents, and yet-here we are. The park soldiers on, a scruffy survivor with a devoted following of surfers, fishers, and birders.

And make no mistake: for birders, this place is paradise. The Santa Clara River Estuary Natural Preserve attracts kites, harriers, owls, herons, and countless migrants resting their wings. McGrath Lake, tucked behind low dunes, provides another oasis. Then there’s the Pacific shore itself, with gulls, terns, sandpipers, and pelicans on patrol. If you like binoculars with your hiking boots, you’ve come to the right place.

As for the hike: this isn’t a high-drama cliffside jaunt, but a gentle tramp through wetlands and dunes that connects you to one of Southern California’s last intact estuaries. You can make it short and sweet by heading to McGrath Lake and back, or you can stretch it out into a full coastal walk that delivers you, eventually, to the mouth of Channel Islands Harbor. Along the way you’ll meet sand, surf fishermen, and a few reminders of the modern world-including the hulking relic of the old Edison power plant. Nothing like a little industrial archaeology to balance the bird calls.

And then there’s Hollywood Beach. Yes, Hollywood once came calling here. Rudolph Valentino filmed The Sheik on these windswept sands back in the 1920s. Developers tried to ride the wave, promoting subdivisions called “Hollywood-by-the-Sea” and “Silver Strand.” Spoiler alert: Valentino didn’t move in. But the wide beach is still there, and if you squint hard enough into the late-afternoon sun, you might just imagine a silent-era sheik riding across the dunes.