These tracks aren’t from tires. Rangers solve mystery of strange tracks at CA beach

Jabba the Hutt isn’t wandering a California beach — but mysterious tracks found in a parking lot made it seem possible.

Park rangers at Point Reyes National Seashore recently found a trail of sand tracks in the parking lot. A long, thick line of sand with dots on both sides swept through the blacktop, photos posted Wednesday, Jan. 2, show.

At first, what left them was a mystery. The tracks weren’t from tires, and park rangers followed the trail to find what — or who — could’ve left them behind.

“These, however, were not your usual squealy-tire tracks,” park rangers said on Instagram. “Oh no, these were from something much more mysterious. The perpetrator was nowhere to be seen by the time they got down there.”

An elephant seal, a creature that can be the size of a small SUV, created the tracks when it wandered into the parking lot, park rangers said.

“Male Northern elephant seals have been hanging out on Drakes Beach for the winter breeding season, and every now and then one galumphs his way into (and back out of) the parking lot, leaving behind these odd sand tracks,” rangers said.

Before park rangers revealed an elephant seal was behind the tracks, many people had hilarious and somewhat absurd guesses as to what left them behind.

The guesses ranged from Jabba the Hutt and aliens to a really large sea turtle, Godzilla and Appa the flying bison.

Elephant seals, however, are known to gather in Point Reyes. Last year, so many massive seals were on the seashore that officials had to shut down the beach, and it wasn’t the first time they had taken over.

The seals can weigh up to 5,000 pounds and become unpredictable while looking for a mate.

The elephant seals’ presence, however, is welcome at Point Reyes. The animal was absent from the seashore for more than 150 years, according to the National Park Service. They returned to the south side of the shore in the 1970s.

“In 1981, the first breeding pair was discovered near Chimney Rock. Between 1988 and 1993, the population grew at a dramatic annual average rate of 32%,” the National Park Service said. “Since 1993, the average growth rate has slowed to 8–9% per year.”

At Drakes Beach, elephant seals didn’t return until early December 2020, the National Park Service reported.

This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 8:07 AM with the headline "These tracks aren’t from tires. Rangers solve mystery of strange tracks at CA beach."