Torrey Pines Extension

If you've hiked in San Diego before, you've probably heard of Torrey Pines state park, located on the cliffs between La Jolla and Del Mar. Turns out Torrey Pines has a sister! While it is true that the Torrey Pines extension is far less showy than her more famous relative, the park is just as beautiful in its own quiet way. The extension is further inland, and it's much more secluded. Mostly nestled in between gently sloping canyon walls, its filled with lots of short, meandering trails that you could spend a couple hours exploring leisurely, though if your only goal was to get from one side to the other you could cross the entire park in about 15 minutes.

The landscape is gently hilly, with lots of scrub and open spaces, as in the picture above. Unlike the main Torrey Pines park, there are some areas of shade, due to the occasional tall tree or secluded canyonlet. These are pretty few and far between, however, with about 5% of the trail covered by shade (10 percent in the morning or evening from shadows cast from the canyon walls). You won't have a hard time finding a shady place to stop and rest. From some of the higher vantage points you get nice views of the surrounding areas, including the Pacific, and the other half of Torrey Pines park. One downside is that a few short sections of the trails are closed, presumably due to erosion, which is a shame in a park with so little acreage to begin with. Maybe if California weren't bankrupt the state parks might be able to afford better maintenance.

There is lots of parking near the south entrance of the park, but little else - such as rest rooms, or signage. In fact, there are maybe 3 trail markers in the entire park. On the other hand, since each trail is short, and the whole park is pretty small, there's no risk of getting lost for long. The scrub is high enough that a portable toilet could be fashioned in a pinch (you didn't hear it here!) .

This is the official map, and a google map to the entrance. Below is our map, with parking marked with the (P). Note at the top of the map is a green *, showing the entrance to the Crest Canyon open space park, which will save for another time.

Coast Walk (San Diego- La Jolla Underwater Park)

If you are looking for a leisurely stroll along the coast, this is the perfect trail to take. We discovered it quite by accident on our way to La Jolla Cove. Out and back is a half mile, and the climbing is fairly moderate. The trail follows the edge of the cliffs and offers a stunning view of the pacific ocean. The seal colony that haunts La Jolla seems to like to rest on the rocks below the cliffs, so there is a pretty good chance of seeing (and smelling!) the seals at play. 

On the map the trail is the topmost white line along the shore, with the west-most entrance marked by a yellow star. There is parking available (if you follow Coast Blvd past the yellow star), but it tends to fill up in the evenings and on weekends, so you may have to park some distance away. We have found that if you are willing to walk five or ten minutes there is plenty of parking on the side streets once you get away from the beach. 

You'll find the entrance next to a little gift shop that advertises entrance to a cave (for a fee). There is a little platform there next to the trail that will let you look down on where the seals tend to rest. There is also an entrance at the other end of the trail, but there is no parking on that part of Torrey Pines Rd.