Elkhorn Slough Runs on a Schedule This Winter

At the end of Kirby Road, the parking lot is open, the boat ramp is open, and the dock is open. Past the lot, the half-mile paved path and its 500-foot boardwalk over the marsh are closed. The Elkhorn Slough Foundation lists the Kirby Park Trail as closed due to storm damage. In a normal year that trail is open sunrise to sunset for walking, birdwatching and leashed dogs, and it is the only wheelchair-accessible trail alongside Elkhorn Slough.

Kirby Park was the slough's no-appointment walk, open every day of the week, early and late. Without it, nearly every way onto the slough this winter comes with a clock attached. The Reserve keeps a five-day week. The boat and kayak operators run dated departures. The tide sets its own timetable, and the biggest tides of the year all land within a few short windows between late November and late January. Plan around those three schedules and this is one of the best stretches of the year on the water. Ignore them and you could easily drive out Elkhorn Road on a Tuesday to locked gates.

The Reserve's week has five days in it

The Elkhorn Slough Reserve at 1700 Elkhorn Road is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Monday and Tuesday it is closed outright. The trails, restrooms, visitor center and grounds are all inaccessible those days. On the days it is open, the Reserve offers five miles of trails with no parking or day-use fee, and the visitor center keeps the same Wednesday-to-Sunday hours.

Set beside Kirby Park's usual hours, the gap is plain. Kirby's trail runs sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. The Reserve runs eight hours a day, five days a week. With Kirby closed, the Reserve's schedule is the only one that matters for walking the slough's edge, so a habit built on a Monday walk or a dusk loop has nowhere to go until the trail reopens.

The guided options follow the same calendar. According to the Reserve's tours page, naturalist-guided hikes start at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. They are first come, first served, and you sign up at the visitor center desk. The early-bird birding tour meets at 8:30 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month.

The Reserve's own seasonal notes explain why fall into winter is worth the effort. Migratory birds are more abundant in fall, sea otters and harbor seals are present, and winter brings notable sunsets along with clear weather that is harder to predict. The Reserve also asks paddlers to check current wind and tide conditions before heading out.

November's dated departures

The fixed dates cluster in early November, and three of them fall on the same Saturday. Here is what the operators and the Reserve have posted:

• Friday, Nov. 6: Elkhorn Slough Safari's Hot Chocolate Sunset Tour.
• Saturday, Nov. 7: the Reserve's first-Saturday Early Bird Tour, and in the evening its "Into the Night: Bat Emergence at Sunset" program.
• Saturday, Nov. 7: Elkhorn Slough Safari's Pelican Fall Farewell Tour, billed as a last chance to see brown pelicans before they migrate south in November.
• Saturday, Nov. 28: the Reserve's Mindfulness Tour.

The bat program matters because of the hours. The Reserve normally closes at 5 p.m., so a scheduled evening event is one of the few ways to stand on Reserve ground at dusk. The pelican tour is timed to the birds, so its date is fixed by migration, not by when the operator happens to have a boat free.

Outside the specialty dates, Elkhorn Slough Safari runs its 90-minute public boat tours year-round. They can usually be scheduled any day, though departure times vary by week and season, and reservations are required in advance. Among the regular options, the boat is the one that ignores both the Reserve's Monday-Tuesday closure and the closed trail at Kirby.

On the water, the schedule is yours to set

Paddlers have the most freedom on the slough this winter, which is part of why the closure falls hardest on walkers. Monterey Bay Kayaks rents from its Moss Landing location daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It takes walk-ins, rents for up to four hours, and asks every renter to be back by closing. The same outfitter runs daily guided tours of 1.5 and 2.5 hours. Kayak Connection offers wildlife, family, birding and private kayak tours, booked online or by phone.

For anyone bringing their own boat, the Moss Landing Harbor District lists the North Harbor launch ramp as open to the public, with a $25 daily park-and-launch fee. The Foundation describes the Kirby Park boat launch as available as well. The Harbor District operates that launch, so it is the right office to call for the ramp's status on a given day.

Who looks after Kirby Park, and why the trail is still closed

Kirby Park's management is split three ways, which helps explain the reopened road beside a closed trail. According to the Foundation:

The road was the earlier problem, and it has been fixed. KSBW reported in August 2023 that the county closed the road after that January's storms. About $500,000 in county-funded repairs began Aug. 9, with completion expected that September. The Reserve now says the road to Kirby Park is repaired and open, while the trail stays closed.

The trail damage comes from a slower cause. The Foundation attributes the erosion to marsh loss and undercutting along the edge, and it ties the earlier road failure to winter storm runoff. Its stated approach is broad community planning for access and climate resilience, and no reopening date has been posted. Edge erosion of that kind won't be fixed by a single crew in one season, so the trail is best treated as closed through this winter unless the Foundation's page says otherwise.

The tide clock, and the days it swings widest

The third schedule is the one the slough itself keeps. The California Coastal Commission's King Tides Project lists this season's statewide king tide windows as Nov. 24–26 and Dec. 23–25, 2026, and Jan. 21–22, 2027. It notes that Northern California locations may also see king tides on Dec. 22, Jan. 20 and Jan. 23.

NOAA keeps a tide prediction station inside the slough at Kirby Park, station 9413651. Its predicted high tides for those windows run close to 7 feet above mean lower low water.

The low tide on those same days stands out just as much. In the December window, each day's 7-foot high is followed by a low below zero. NOAA predicts lows of -1.56 feet on Dec. 23, -1.64 feet on Dec. 24 and -1.50 feet on Dec. 25. That is a swing of more than 8.5 feet within a single day. At the top of the tide the marsh fills to its edges, and at the bottom the mudflats lie wide open. Exact times move from day to day, so check the NOAA Kirby Park station before you choose a launch time or a trail hour.

Two of the outfitters build trips around these days. Monterey Bay Kayaks offers a "Ride the King Tide" tour on select dates from November through March. Kayak Connection runs its King Tide Tour on selected dates in December and January. On foot, the Reserve describes an annual King Tide Walk held each winter. Watch its calendar for this season's date.

The Dec. 24 and 25 king tides fall on Thursday and Friday, which are Reserve days. Dec. 22 and 23 fall on a Tuesday and a Wednesday, and the Tuesday is a closed day. The Nov. 24–26 window starts on a Tuesday too. So in each of the first two windows, at least one date can only be seen from the water or from somewhere other than the Reserve.

If you'd like to talk about how a home's tide views, nearby launch spots, or a short paddle to the slough fit into what makes Moss Landing living distinctive, Megan Lyng is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.