Morro Rock

The 581-foot volcanic plug at the mouth of Morro Bay harbor has been a navigational landmark, a quarry, and a sacred site — sometimes all at once. The Salinan people hold the established right to climb it for their solstice ceremonies; the Chumash consider it too sacred to climb at all. Quarried on and off from 1889 to 1969 for breakwater stone, it is now California Historical Landmark No. 821 and a protected nesting site for peregrine falcons. The general public cannot climb it. You can drive to its base and look up.