Beach Walk #14: Arroyo Quemada to Refugio Beach

 

The new moon week of good tides continued with a -0.7 tide on Friday July 17 at 6:45am. My friend Paige and I set out from Arroyo Quemada Lane between Refugio and Gaviota. This involves a tricky left turn off the freeway 2 miles north of Refugio State Beach. (If you immediately reach a gate, you are on the wrong end of the lane.) It is a very bumpy, poorly kept road that ends in a gate. About 600 feet before the gate, there is a large gravel parking area.  After crossing the railroad tracks, there is a path off to the left that descends steeply down the bluff to the beach at the beach wall. Paige had hiking shoes and was better off! 

Path down to the beach

Beach wall

Once on the beach, we headed for Refugio State Beach. In this week of heat, the temperature was perfect. There is so much beach when the tide is this low. There wasn't much tar, seaweed or rocks on this stretch. It is pretty incredible to contemplate how much concrete it took to make these walls and the logistics in getting it all down to the beach. 

The tidepools are incredible at these low tides along these beaches above Goleta because there are less human impact. We saw lots of birds but few people. 

Thanks to Paige for walking this section with me! It was 2.5 miles of unique beach--61 km (38.2 miles) down!

Related Posts:

Refugio Nature Program

Refugio State Beach

Refugio to El Capitan

Beach Walk 13: El Capitan to Haskell's Beach

The longest segment of the summer is the one from El Capitan to Haskell's Beach. The tide was very low this day (second lowest of the summer -1.6). Ted and I set out from El Capitan early at 5:30am. Parking was the hardest part since the day use area wasn't open yet. We noticed a few cars parked across the freeway, but we opted for parking at one of the group sites closest to the stairs down to the beach. (These stairs don't actually fully go down to the beach anymore.) We saw some fisherman here but afterward. We didn't see anyone until we were close to Haskells Beach.

It was about half a mile to the place we stopped on our Refugio to El Capitan walk. The point here has a lot of large rocks to scramble up or maneuver around. Just past this there was a ton of seaweed to traipse through. Another notable feature in this first section is the seawall that protects the bluff from erosion (the road and train tracks are pretty close.) 

The tide pools were best in the next section around 2 miles into our walk with sea anemones, muscles, snails and sand crabs. We even spotted some type of squid. Gato Canyon has lots of smaller rocks to navigate about 2.5 miles into the walk. 

If it wasn't such a long walk, we might have explored this tunnel. (The land on the bluff above this is all very private with no official beach access, so probably not.) 

There are several huts on the beach for residents. One is around the 4 mile mark with a lawn and palm trees (and a port-a-potty). 

The only other tricky part was just over 4 miles in at the creek at Dos Pueblos Canyon. We had to wade here but found several beautiful abalone shells. (A co-worker of Ted's reports that there is an abalone farm here that pulls water into use and releases it back out to the ocean adding to the creek flow we waded through.) 

We finally finally spotted some people near Naples Point around 5 miles into the walk. When we rounded the point, we could see Haskell's Pier in the distance. 

Thanks to Ted for walking the long stretch with me (and getting up at 4:30 to do it before work). This bring the total miles to 35.6 (57km). 

Related Posts

El Capitan (this post needs an update now that it has reopened)

Haskell's Beach

Refugio to El Capitan

Ellwood to Haskell's Beach

Beach Walk 12: Santa Barbara Wharf, Harbor and Goleta Pier

 

Since the walks I have planned are not quite 50 miles in total, I walked all the public wharfs/piers/breakwater paths too! In truth, they did not add very much to the total, but more friends is more fun! These are all mid-day walks since the tides are no issue! 

On Monday July 13, I walked the Santa Barbara Wharf from the dolphin fountain to the end with my daughter E. We saw lots of tourists and sea gulls! It is .4 miles (.8 round trip) and was a quick add. 

On Thursday July 16, I walked the Goleta Pier solo. I spotted a few fishermen and not much else. This is only .3 miles. 

Goleta Pier looking at UCSB

On Thursday July 16, I met my friends Jane and Annie for a walk of the breakwater at the Harbor. Jane had even brought a birthday sash for our selfie. The tide does matter here are we came close to getting sprayed a few times. We walked the whole path and even made our way to the end of the plank path toward the end (it is narrower and doesn't go as far as it used to). This was just over .6 miles. 

Over all these added 1.3 miles to the total. Thanks to E, Jane and Annie for walking with me! This brings the total 28.5 miles (45 km). I met my goal and now I am headed for miles! 

Related Posts

Harbor Walk 

Lil Toot

West Beach

Maritime Museum

Los Banos Playground

Beach Walk #11: Lookout Park to Loon Point Plus

The low tides continued on Friday July 3, so I met my friend Marissa at 6:50 AM. We set out from Lookout Park in Summerland with the goal of walking to Loon Point in Summerland. The section was so short that I missed the entrance to the Loon Point parking lot where the car was and we continued for another mile and a half down the beach. I should have ended this one at Santa Claus Lane. 

Cliffs

Narrow at high tide

It is a narrow section that would be almost non-existent at high tide with cliffs above for the first section and beautiful homes for the next section. We exited through a narrow (read hedges on both sides) public access point that we almost didn't spot (but could see it on the map) near 3453 Padaro Lane. We took the street for the mile plus back to the car. 

Marissa and Rhonda

I forgot my phone for this adventure so thanks to Marissa for the selfie and for the fun beach day the next week to take some pictures of Loon Point Beach. 

Related Posts:

Butterfly Beach

Hammonds Beach

Mirmar Beach

Lookout Park

Beach Walk #10: Gaviota to San Onofre Beach

The next section I walked was a  -0.5 tide on Thursday July 2. My friend Monica and I started this one at the eastern side because I had never accessed the beach at San Onofre before. San Onofre Beach is one of several spots where I had noticed cars parked when driving down the 101 South. This particular spot is just over a mile past the Maricopa exit. After a decline down to the beach we set off at 6:40AM toward Gaviota. 

Entrance to San Onofre

San Onofre Parking Area

Maricopa Exit

This stretch of beach was narrow and quiet. There needs to be a low tide to enjoy this section as well as to walk to Gaviota. There was little tar and no seaweed. There are many interesting rock formations. 

San Onofre Beach

Toward Gaviota

We went a bit beyond the pier as far as you can to make the walk 2.5 beach miles. This is the western most place you can walk since the ocean comes up to cliff above the coast (and Vandenberg is a closed beach space).

Gaviota Pier

Bridge at Gaviota

Thanks to Monica for joining me for this section! It was 2.5 miles of unique beach--39 km (24.5miles) down!

Related Posts:

Gaviota State Beach

San Onofre Beach

Refugio Nature Program

Refugio State Beach

El Capitan State Beach

Beach Walk #9: Refugio to El Capitan

 

The full moon week of medium good tides continued  -0.6 tide on Tuesday July 1. My friend plan fell through, so my husband Ted stepped in again. We started at the Refugio end of this loop at 5:50 AM. I have done this walk on the bluff before, but it is not completely accessible as some of the path has eroded way on the El Capitan end. 

Setting Out From Refugio

Bird Prints

It was a beautiful morning. We made it over the creek flow by steeping on a log and made our way down the beach. There were several points where we had to time our walks around the waves and it would have been even better at a lower tide. There are many large rocks on this part of the beach, but no significant tar or seaweed until the very end. 

Large Rocks

El Capitan

We did a round trip loop because El Capitan is still closed for repairs. On the way back, we noticed a beach acess point at Arroyo Quemada (which is different from the one up the coast!). 

Arroyo Quemada

Arroyo Quemada

Thanks to Ted for being on backup to walk this section with me! It was 2.9 miles of unique beach--35 km (22miles) down!

Related Posts:

Refugio Nature Program

Refugio State Beach

El Capitan State Beach