Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Dieguito Lagoon Trail

San Dieguito Lagoon’s new “Lagoon Trail” and boardwalk now stretches 1.4 miles between Jimmy Durante Boulevard and the Albertsons shopping center just south of Via de la Valle. The new segment of trail is yet another completed link in the 55-mile-long Coast to Crest Trail that will eventually stretch eastward all the way to the mile-high crest of Volcan Mountain near Julian. This effort is part of the fledgling San Dieguito River Park, which seeks to preserve as much as possible the natural features of the San Dieguito River/Santa Ysabel Creek watershed and provide various means of public access to it.

Take along a pair of binoculars if you are interested in bird-watching. Perhaps you might pick a time when the tide level is high and the water’s edge is closer to the trail. At low tide, the water recedes to a point where it is barely visible from most vantages.

You can start at either end of the 1.4-mile segment, but finding a place to park is easier on the east end. Exit Interstate 5 at Villa de la Valle, go east just past the Albertsons shopping center, and turn right on San Andres Drive. You can pick up the trail at the dead end of San Andres Drive, near the site of the future San Dieguito River Park Visitor Center.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The first two-thirds mile of the trail (for use by hikers and bikers) takes you west toward the freeway and then south to the bank of the San Dieguito River, which at this point flows underneath the concrete bridges of the freeway. As you continue under the freeway and farther west, the white noise of speeding cars mercifully fades and broad vistas of the lagoon are in view to the south, backed up by the wooded residential areas of Del Mar. At 1.1 miles into the hike you come upon an observation platform, which marks the start of the boardwalk portion of the trail. Bicyclists aren’t allowed ahead on the planked section of trail; they must turn back at this point.

The boardwalk section definitely represents 21st-century trail-building techniques, with Trex composite material underfoot and plenty of interpretive panels to educate the public. After about 0.3 mile, you come to the trail’s end on Jimmy Durante Boulevard, just south of the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

If you care to walk a little farther toward the ocean, you can head south using Jimmy Durante Boulevard’s bridge over the river and pick up the short “River Path” on the far side of the bridge.

SAN DIEGUITO LAGOON TRAIL
Del Mar’s new Lagoon Trail guides hikers alongside the San Dieguito Lagoon salt marsh.
Distance from downtown San Diego: 22 miles
Hiking length: 2.8 miles round trip
Difficulty: Easy

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Next Article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"

San Dieguito Lagoon’s new “Lagoon Trail” and boardwalk now stretches 1.4 miles between Jimmy Durante Boulevard and the Albertsons shopping center just south of Via de la Valle. The new segment of trail is yet another completed link in the 55-mile-long Coast to Crest Trail that will eventually stretch eastward all the way to the mile-high crest of Volcan Mountain near Julian. This effort is part of the fledgling San Dieguito River Park, which seeks to preserve as much as possible the natural features of the San Dieguito River/Santa Ysabel Creek watershed and provide various means of public access to it.

Take along a pair of binoculars if you are interested in bird-watching. Perhaps you might pick a time when the tide level is high and the water’s edge is closer to the trail. At low tide, the water recedes to a point where it is barely visible from most vantages.

You can start at either end of the 1.4-mile segment, but finding a place to park is easier on the east end. Exit Interstate 5 at Villa de la Valle, go east just past the Albertsons shopping center, and turn right on San Andres Drive. You can pick up the trail at the dead end of San Andres Drive, near the site of the future San Dieguito River Park Visitor Center.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The first two-thirds mile of the trail (for use by hikers and bikers) takes you west toward the freeway and then south to the bank of the San Dieguito River, which at this point flows underneath the concrete bridges of the freeway. As you continue under the freeway and farther west, the white noise of speeding cars mercifully fades and broad vistas of the lagoon are in view to the south, backed up by the wooded residential areas of Del Mar. At 1.1 miles into the hike you come upon an observation platform, which marks the start of the boardwalk portion of the trail. Bicyclists aren’t allowed ahead on the planked section of trail; they must turn back at this point.

The boardwalk section definitely represents 21st-century trail-building techniques, with Trex composite material underfoot and plenty of interpretive panels to educate the public. After about 0.3 mile, you come to the trail’s end on Jimmy Durante Boulevard, just south of the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

If you care to walk a little farther toward the ocean, you can head south using Jimmy Durante Boulevard’s bridge over the river and pick up the short “River Path” on the far side of the bridge.

SAN DIEGUITO LAGOON TRAIL
Del Mar’s new Lagoon Trail guides hikers alongside the San Dieguito Lagoon salt marsh.
Distance from downtown San Diego: 22 miles
Hiking length: 2.8 miles round trip
Difficulty: Easy

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Next Article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader