Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park
What looks like ruddy wasteland as you whiz past on the freeway turns out to be a magical network of rivulets and trails meandering across a thriving salt marsh. Pathways…
Port Hueneme Lighthouse Promenade
From Hueneme Wharf Plaza, the newly-repaired Lighthouse Promenade threads between the beach and the port to a hidden architectural treasure presiding over the port entrance: the Port Hueneme Lighthouse. Art…
Summerland Lookout Park Trail
Poised atop a seaside cliff, this place would be marvelous even without the bocci court, ping pong tables, grape trellises, nice playground, clean toilets, and dog washing kiosk (not kidding).…
Emma Wood River Trail & Seaside Wilderness
The shrubby, duney, jungled wild space between Emma Wood State Park, Ventura River’s estuary, the freeway, and the ocean is etched with footpaths. There are two jumping off points from…
Haskell’s Beach / Hel’apunitse Trail
Shrouded in history and surfers’ lore, Haskell’s Beach is partially named after the surfer who used to hold the key back when you needed one. Hel’apunitse, which is the Chumash…
Shalawa / Hammond Meadow Trail
A secret passage in plain sight whisks you to this venerated seaside meadow. From the small parking lot, a footpath squeezes between the hedgerows, across Montecito Creek, past estate gardens…
Sea God Cemetery Beach Path
See those things sticking up over there on the beach between the cobblestones and the mini jungle to the south of the pier? You should definitely take a closer look!…
Leo Carrillo Beach Trail
We will forever call this “the cave beach,” which is an utter injustice to the tide pools, overlooks, life guard station and crab coves. You could spend the whole day…
Ballona Lagoon Marine Preserve Trail
Tucked away between Venice beach and Marina Del Ray harbor, Ballona Lagoon is one of the last tidal wetlands in southern California, with high and low tides twice daily. A…
Ellwood Bluffs
The trail leading through Goleta’s Ellwood Mesa and Bluffs to the beach is bustling with adventure. It dives from the edge of a neighborhood into a Eucalyptus forest, from which…
Coronado & Ellwood Monarch Butterfly Groves
These two adjacent famed Monarch butterfly habitats reached via the Ellwood Bluffs trail attract butterflies November through February. A decade ago, tens of thousands of butterflies would spend the winter…
Bates Road Railroad & Rincon Tidepools
From the same parking lot, you can hover high above the ocean with the paragliders where trains whiz past, or you can crouch close to a sea anemone and watch…
Douglas Family Preserve
The water seems always to be turquoise, the horizon gently curved and shimmering with a lazy haze, a hint of Eucalyptus in the air stoked by the warm breeze, and…