Cypress Grove Trail The Cypress Grove Trail winds through one of two naturally growing stands of Monterey cypress trees remaining on Earth. These cypresses, which formerly extended over a much wider range, withdrew to these fog-shrouded headlands as the climate changed with the close of the Pleistocene epoch 15,000 years ago. The outermost trees mirror the forces of nature and time; they survive the salt spray and wind, their roots seeking nourishment in cracks and crevices.