Cardiff State Beach to South Carlsbad State Beach

We strongly recommend the hike from Cardiff State Beach to South Carlsbad State Beach. We took two cars, dropped one off at the destination point and drove South to the starting point. The entire hike, one way, is 5.5 miles. It took us two hours and twenty minutes. We begun our hike at 7:20AM, so most of the time we were in the shade provided by the cliffs running along the beach facing West. We intentionally timed our hike during low tide as there are two areas that are inaccessible during high tide.

Cardiff State Beach GPS coordinates:
North 33° 1.026', West 117° 16.890'

South Carlsbad State Beach [South Ponto]:
North 33° 5.114', West 117° 18.698'

Border Field State Park

The Border Field State Park is as far South and West one can be in the continental United States. We visited it twice within one week. The first time was extremely fun, but the second time we found ourselves in the midst of mosquito hell!

The first time we headed straight for the beach and from there we headed South to the United States/Mexican boarder. The second time we parked further North forcing us to walk through the Tijuana river wash area. The trails through the wash are actually pretty cool. We were always buried in a canopy of trees and the trail is narrowly walled by all sorts of plant life. The trail floor is sand mixed with occasional debris which I assume washed in from Tijuana when the water was high. If I were going to do it again I'd spray tons of Off (mosquito repellent) on my body parts. There were tons of mosquitos!

Here is a combination of pics from both visits:

Here's a nice view of the Plaza de Toros Monumental, aka The Tijuana Bullring, located just South of the US/Mexican boarder.





Here's Clarita and Daniel, my nephew, and a father and his son spending a day at the Tijuana beach.

La Migra!

Border Field State Park [page 2]

Nephews: Derec, Daniel, and Lee.

Torrey Pines Beach Trail

At Torrey Pines State Reserve there are plenty of spectacular trails to choose from. On the morning of June 14, 2008 we chose the Torrey Pines Beach Trail. We started off at the visitor center and hiked the beach trail down to the beach. From there we headed South to the beach area that sets just below the Torrey Pines Golf Course. From there we doubled back as we were running short on time.

View Larger Map

Plants at Torrey Pines