Torrey Pines Beach Trail

So, one recent Saturday we headed to the nearby Torrey Pines Beach Trail Hike with seven kids in tow (all under 12 and obviously not all of them ours). Torrey Pines is a pretty small, but unique California State Reserve located just of Interstate 5, north of San Diego, near Del Mar. It's an interesting and educational place, and a good place to just have some fun, especially with kids.

We parked in a nearby residential area and walked to the entrance of the park. If you can find it, the beach parking is free and close to the entrance, but Saturday is not a great time to snag one. The park itself is free, but parking inside the entrance is $10 per car. There is a lower lot just past the entrance and the bathrooms, but for hiking it's much better to park in one of the two smaller upper lots. If like us you walk in, or if you end up parking in the lower lot, then you'll have to walk up the hill. With only wide dirt areas next to the paved road, this was not an ideal walk with kids. Occasionally we had to cross over from one side to the other to walk on the "safer" side of the road. Luckily there wasn't much traffic on this road. Drinking water is a must. It's hot, steep and has little shade, so do not try this if you have any doubts about your health and abilities. There are several hikes along the road, most of them are loops that have beautiful or interesting views and lots of native plants and small wildlife: rabbits, lizards, birds and bugs. We saw what I think was a giant nest, hanging like a decorative ornament ball on a pine tree. Be sure to watch out for snakes.

To get to the Beach Trail hike, we continued to the very top of the hill where there is a Visitors Center hidden on the left and two small parking lots. Veer through the parking lot on the right and stop to read the large map on the bulletin board. The Beach Trail hike is not well marked at the trail head, but just walk on the wide dirt path to the right of the bulletin board and you're on it. This trail winds down the sandy beach cliffs to the ocean. The trail is dry and dusty and surrounded by native Californian scrub and chaparral, but is well-marked. It's best to stay on the path, since wandering off the path is detrimental to both the ecosystem and your health if you happen to be one to find a rattlesnake. After the all-uphill walking just to get to the trail head, the trail was all downhill and very easy. There are striking views of dusty scrub mixed with chaparral and cactus, with carved sand cliffs and ocean as a backdrop. At every split, stay to the left until the split on the left is a steep rise, then turn to the right over sand boulders. The most difficult portion of the trail is the very end, getting from the cliffs down to the beach. Years ago we had hiked the trail and the cliff portion was very narrow, washed out and even dangerous. Now they've installed metal stairs, which are very steep, but are much safer than the eroding dirt cliff path. It took less than an hour from head to tail, and the kids loved the hike.

The final reward is stripping down to swimsuits at the water's edge and jumping in to cool off, or tide pooling the giant rocks to the south of the metal stairs. We played for hours, and then had a long, but lazy walk on the beach back to the park entrance. Check out http://www.torreypine.org/index.html for maps and more detailed information on the park.