Living in the San Diego area, there are always more than enough things to do here. From a day at the zoo to exploring Balboa Park, or hiking in a state/national park, there are endless opportunities to enjoy. This past weekend, my family and I hiked Torrey Pines State Reserve, which is between Del Mar and La Jolla in the San Diego area. The state reserve has a beautiful beach as well as hiking trails that go up and then loop back onto the beach. In the summertime, you can swim in the Pacific Ocean which the reserve sits against. Parking when we went this weekend was $20.
We started our hike in the parking lot area before heading up. The parking lot borders the beach and contains restrooms, foot showers for after the beach, and the pay station for parking. This is where most hikers start, but you can also drive up to the peak of the reserve, where a parking lot is located near a hiking way station.
You’ll see many families and people enjoying the hike; some go slowly, while others move faster. My wife, daughter, son, and I did a slow trek up to take in the scenery and enjoy the fresh air.
Along the way up, you can catch beautiful scenic views of the San Diego coastline next to the 5 freeway. There are some areas where you can stop and rest if you just want to gaze and enjoy the scenery for a while.
Once you get high enough up, you’ll start seeing glimpses of the Pacific Ocean. There are multiple trail loops that will take you along more scenic routes to gaze at the Pacific Ocean, but we waited until we got to the Beach trail which takes you down back onto the beach.
When we started going on the Beach trail, there were multiple scenic views of the Pacific beach that we stopped and looked at. We had to get off to the side as there were a lot of other people also descending on the Beach trail loop.
On the way down through the Beach trail loop, you’ll be able to see a lot of nature from plants, bushes, and flowers. We saw some cactus nestled in some of the cliffside areas.
Once you get down to the beach area, you can look up at the cliffs of what you descended from. The cliffs are unstable so you will want to make sure you are a good length away from them. They tower over you though.
The beach at the bottom is rocky initially but then gets to be softer sand once you get back to the beach near the parking area.
The view on the way back is very scenic as well and is about a mile in length.
When we got back, we took our gear off and enjoyed the beach and the kids played in the nice soft sand while we took in the fresh ocean breeze. There was also a food truck that we got a snack at on the day of. I would recommend spending a morning or afternoon at Torrey Pines State Reserve if you have time.
