Gowen Cypress, Pebble Beach, CA

Gowen Cypress is thinly settled forest in the middle of Pebble Beach, between the Poppy Hills fairways and the slope of Huckleberry Hill. A few dozen houses are scattered through it and most of the land is woods, so Gowen Cypress reads more like a stretch of the Del Monte Forest than a neighborhood with a center. The name comes from a tree. Gowen cypress is a rare, stunted native that grows in pygmy stands, and the Morse Botanical Reserve nearby protects one, with oaks and several kinds of pine around it. The reserve's 1.8-mile trail also drops through redwoods beside a creek. The nature preserve on Huckleberry Hill sits just to the east, and the wider network of Del Monte Forest trails lets a walker cover long loops without crossing a main road. Houses here sit back on wooded lots and many are out of sight from the street. There is no shopping street and no steady foot traffic, only pine needles, birdsong and the occasional golf cart from the course next door. Food is close but starts at the edge of the Forest. Porter's Grill & Pub, the clubhouse restaurant at Poppy Hills, serves breakfast and lunch with a view over three holes. On the Pacific Grove side, Patisserie Bechler on Forest Avenue has been baking French pastries since 1984, and the Safeway and Trader Joe's in the Del Monte Park area cover groceries. Highway 68 is the way out toward Monterey and Carmel. With so few houses, there is little here besides trees and trail, and a daily coffee or grocery run means driving out. What you keep in return is dark, still nights under a pine canopy.