O.C. treasures: We've got sand and surf at our state parks

Patricia Villagomez sits on a bluff at the Moro Campground at Crystal Cove State Park, looking out at the crisp blue ocean and cars whizzing past on Coast Highway.

It wasnt easy to sleep the night before, with waves crashing so close. The Fullerton camper couldnt take her eyes off the moonlight on the ocean, or the stars bright in the sky.

We forget, living in the city, that this is a drive away, Villagomez said, pointing out the flowers surrounding her.

You think you have to go to Yosemite or the Sequoias or Big Bear to get away from it all, and you dont. Our State Parks are around the corner, and you dont even realize it.

The California State Parks system is celebrating its 150th anniversary. Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant Act in 1864, creating the nations first state park. Today, the California State Parks system includes about 1.4 million acres over more than 270 parks, with more than 280 miles of coastline, and 625 miles of lakes and rivers.

In places like Yosemite, large trees in vast forests are under the states jurisdiction. But here in Orange County, most state parks come in a different form: sandy beaches and plentiful surf.

Each has its own history.

BOLSA CHICA

In the 1950s, this place had a nickname: Tin Can Beach.

The beach earned the name because of the piles of trash discarded by oil and cannery workers who lived nearby in makeshift shacks, from the 1930s through the 50s.

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O.C. treasures: We've got sand and surf at our state parks