Fort Ord National Monument: From Military Mayhem to Coastal Gem

Golden California poppies light up Machine Gun Flats in spring

BEACH RANGE. ENGINEER CANYON. MACHINE GUN FLATS. These are not typical landscape features you’d expect to find on maps of a California “coastal gem” and “hiker’s paradise.” Their roles in decades of service under military ownership are now largely forgotten, replaced by the delights of wildflowers, bird calls, and jingling mountain-bike bells. Set between Salinas and Monterey in…