Located near the Westside area of the city of Santa Cruz, Natural Bridges State Beach is actually the name of a 65-acre state park managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. The state park contains a beach area in its southern part. The area is known as ‘Natural Bridges State Beach’ as it used to have natural bridge-like arches in the water near the beach, which were formed out of mudstone cliffs being naturally eroded away into arches by the water. Earlier there used to be three such arches, however, only one remains which is a popular perching spot for birds now. The beach has light brown sand. The Moore Creek flows into the ocean through the beach area, often forming a lagoon on the southern end of the beach. The state park area also has a monarch butterfly sanctuary, coastal scrub, grasslands, and wetlands, which are present around the beach area. Although the beach has a lifeguard tower, an on-duty lifeguard is often not available.
