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A young thistle growing next to these wooden stairs—3rd photo, where it gets cool moist ocean air regularly—especially when the tide and waves are high like today.

Short-styled Thistle (Cirsium brevistylum) A.k.a. Indian Thistle. It is a native, perennial plume thistle in the Sunflowers, Daisies, Asters (Asteraceae) family that grows 3--35 dm (up to 11 ft) tall in coastal Calfornia counties. It is generally cobwebby to densely tomentose, especially proximal to the flower heads. Flower heads range in color from white to purple. The most characteristic feature of this thistle is its leaves, which immediately subtend and sometimes surround the flower head. Peak bloom time: March-August.
Short-styed Thistle grows in a wide range of habitats: "coastal meadows, marshes, swamps, riparian woodlands, moist sites in coastal scrub, chaparral, coastal woodlands, mixed conifer-hardwood forests, and coniferous forests"

Flora of North America http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Cirsium_brevistylum

Calflora (includes species distribution map in CA): https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=2119

Jepson eFlora: Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=2110

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 59-60.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 25.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/asteraceae-thistle-cirsium/

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 37.

Thistles (non-native): https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/cwarneke/61995-thistles-with-white-in-their-leaves

A living, fruiting chestnut, which albeit heavily afflicted with blight, has not lost any of its major limbs yet, though some of the lower branches are dead. It was sending out a couple of stump sprouts. Apparently, the tree was released by being able to reach out and use the light provided by the adjacent shrub swamp. It is as of now approximately 20-30 feet tall. Burs, leaves, and seedlings (not sprouts) were scattered in a wide radius.