Abalone Cove, March 4th, 2012
I fear this may be cheating a bit to call this a hike, but it is at a park, and did call for a bit of steep uphill on the way back out.
Abalone Cove, or Shoreline Park, a State Ecological Preserve in Rancho Palos Verdes, has some of the nicest tidepools I’ve seen. Â Today we went there for a negative low tide around midday. Â It was pretty crowded, but any time you see a bunch of kids enjoying nature that can’t be a bad thing!
We saw a lot of purple sea urchins, a few red ones, a lot of  Giant Green Anemones, a couple sea hares, a lot of mussels, some hermit crabs, some other crabs, a lot of starfish (Ochre & others), and various small fish.  My biggest thrill?  I saw a small octopus.  So cute!  it blended in so well with the bottom of the tidepool.
This site has some great pics, too.