Piedras Blancas Light Station

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San Simeon, CA
Piedras Blancas Light Station

Historic lighthouse on the central coast of California! Open for tours Tues, Thurs & Sat year-round and also Monday and Friday from June 15 - September 1.
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Reservations required. Piedras Blancas is located on California's central coast, seven miles north of San Simeon. The lighthouse was built in 1874 to fill the gap between the lighthouses at Point Conception and Point Sur. The name Piedras Blancas comes from the rocky outcropping just offshore.

06/16/2026

Mark your calendars! Our first Hike-In Open House of the summer is in just a few weeks. Learn more at piedrasblancas.org/events.

Bureau of Land Management - California Foundation for America's Public Lands NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary United States Lighthouse Society Cambria Chamber of Commerce Visit Cambria Visit San Simeon California Highway 1 Road Trip KSBY Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve Hearst San Simeon State Park

06/06/2026

One of our volunteers, Gary O'Neill, took a video of the sea lions that rest on the largest offshore rock, Piedra Blanca, and noticed one with an orange tag and a number. Orange-tagged seals and sea lions have been treated at a marine mammal rehabilitation center and released back into the wild. Look for the sea lion with numbers on its side that moves into center frame after a few seconds. Gary reported the sea lion to the orange tag program. Data like this is used to track the health and adaptation of marine mammals that have been treated and released back into the wild.

Video by Gary O'Neill.

Bureau of Land Management - California
Foundation for America's Public Lands
Conservation Lands Foundation
The Marine Mammal Center

06/04/2026

Save the Date! Libations at the Lighthouse will take place on Saturday, September 19 at the Piedras Blancas Light Station. This year we'll have wines from both Harmony Cellars and Moonstone Cellars!

Check out piedrasblancas.org/events for more details as they become available.

Harmony Cellars
Moonstone Cellars
Cambria Chamber of Commerce
Morro Bay Chamber
San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce
Cayucos Chamber of Commerce
Visit Cambria
Visit San Simeon
California Highway 1 Road Trip
KSBY

06/02/2026

Piedras Blancas Light Station's Summer Schedule starts on June 15! Tours are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday year-round, but in the summer tours are also offered on Mondays and Fridays. There are no tours on Federal Holidays. Go to piedrasblancas.org to make tour reservations. Access to the light station is by reservation only.

Bureau of Land Management - California
Foundation for America's Public Lands
Conservation Lands Foundation
Cambria Chamber of Commerce
Morro Bay Chamber
San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce
Cayucos Chamber of Commerce
Visit Cambria
Visit San Simeon
California Highway 1 Road Trip
Visit San Luis Obispo
Travel Paso

05/22/2026

Come visit us tomorrow, May 23, at the Pinedorado grounds in Cambria for the Nonprofit Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Along with around 40 other organizations, Piedras Blancas Light Station Association will be there to answer questions about the light station, volunteering, and donating. We'll also have some merchandise to sell, so bring your wallets!

05/21/2026

Today is World Bee Day! Pollinators like bees are a vital part of the ecosystem at Piedras Blancas and one reason we have so many beautiful native flowers!

We're also fortunate to be part of a community science effort to add our bumble bee population to the California Bumble Bee Atlas (www.cabumblebeeatlas.org).

Photos by Gary O'Neill.

Bureau of Land Management - California Foundation for America's Public Lands Conservation Lands Foundation California Central Coast Chapter of The Wildlife Society The Xerces Society

05/08/2026

On May 8, 2008, the United States Congress designated Piedras Blancas Light Station an Outstanding Natural Area (ONA). This is one of only three Outstanding Natural Areas that were designated by Congress. The others are Jupiter Inlet Light Station in Jupiter, Florida, and Yaquina Head Light Station in Newport, Oregon. Not all light stations are ONA's and not all ONA's are light stations.

Outstanding Natural Areas are recognized for their "unique and nationally important historic, natural, cultural, scientific, educational, scientific, and recreational values".

Photos by Gary O'Neill.

Bureau of Land Management - California
Foundation for America's Public Lands
Conservation Lands Foundation

05/07/2026

It's Amphibian Week, May 3-9! Enjoy a couple of great photos of the light station's resident red-legged frogs, a threatened species we're lucky to be able to give a home in our little pond.

The Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) has more information on participating in Amphibian week: https://parcplace.org/education/amphibianweek2026.

Photos by Gary O'Neill.

Bureau of Land Management - California
Foundation for America's Public Lands
Conservation Lands Foundation

05/02/2026

Reservations are available for the annual Meet the Scientists lectures at the Piedras Blancas Light Station. This year we're featuring the NOAA gray whale survey team, a speaker on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and a speaker from the Central California Marine Animal Response Team updating us on marine mammal diseases on the Central Coast. Lunch will be served afterward.

Find out more and make reservations at piedrasblancas.org/events. Reservations required.

Bureau of Land Management - California
Foundation for America's Public Lands
Cambria Chamber of Commerce
Morro Bay Chamber
San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce
Cayucos Chamber of Commerce
Conservation Lands Foundation
NOAA Fisheries Service
NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

04/29/2026

The trail at the light station has been looking a little overgrown, so we’re grateful for the California Conservation Corps stepping up and assisting with clearing back the brush. The light station is usually fortunate enough to have an AmeriCorps crew on-site for a month over the winter, but government cutbacks prevented that this year. As a result, the trail wasn’t in the condition we like to see it. Thank you to the CCCs! As a bonus to the team during their visit, one of the whale team observers for the gray whale cow/calf count talked to them about whales, turtles, and other ocean life.

Bureau of Land Management - California
Foundation for America's Public Lands
Conservation Lands Foundation
California Conservation Corps

Address

15950 Cabrillo Highway
San Simeon, CA
93452

Telephone

+18059277361

Website

http://www.piedrasblancas.org/

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