CENTRAL COAST DOG WALKS

Along the beautiful 17-Mile Drive in Del Monte Forest, there’s a great little place for you and your canine to spend an afternoon enjoying the outdoors. It’s an area right along the Pebble Beach coastline near two well-known landmarks called Bird Rock and Seal Rock. Follow a short hiking trail to a spacious grounds for picnic and play at Indian Village.

Bird Rock is a large rock just off shore and is home to a variety of shorebirds, as well as sea lions and harbor seals. South of Bird Rock is Seal Rock and a gorgeous small beach also teaming with marine animals.

You can park in the little parking lot where 17-Mile Drive meets Bird Rock Road.
From there follow the coastline just a few hundred yards south to Dunes Road. Walk up the road to the trailhead at the locked gate. At the trailhead you will notice an old house, which is owned by the Del Monte Forest Preservation Society. You can walk around the gate and take the path that leads to the clearing known as Indian Village. The site was used by the Costanoan Indians as a spa prior to the arrival of Spanish missionaries in the 1700s. 

Today, Indian Village provides a great place for a family picnic, with a dozen large, smooth concrete tables and a fire pit. It also has horseshoe pits and a large grassy area for playing Frisbee or fetch with four-legged family members.  There is also a log cabin at the site, which is not open to the public, but does have a covered porch with tables and benches if you need a little shade. Water is available from a free-standing spigot for thirsty pups. Note that the restroom facilities may or may not be open. 

If you’d like to do a little more walking, you can take the trail past the log cabin for a short 15-minute walk, which parallels Spy Glass Hill Golf Course and ends at Indian Village Road. When you get to the road, turn around and come back the way you came. Be careful to keep your dog on leash as the road appears suddenly.

Directions:
Enter Del Monte Forest/Pebble Beach through the Pacific Grove gate, which itself is on the 17-Mile Drive. Unless you’ve got connections, you’ll need to pay the entrance fee of $9.50 per car. Simply stay on the 17-Mile Drive, following it along the ocean approximately three miles. You will pass Bird Rock and also Bird Rock Road on the left. Just beyond that you will come to Seal Rock, and see a cottage known as the Gingerbread House to the left above the dunes.  Park at Bird Rock or Seal Rock for a longer hike or turn left on Dunes Road and park at the gate by the trailhead, but do not block the entrance, it is a fire road.