We wrap up our up-close look at California coastal access this week by coastwalking south from San Francisco to Santa Barbara—and with a timely reminder that the battle for access will never end.
We, collectively, own the coast. Our state constitution guarantees access. But to get to our beaches, we often have to pass through private property. Fighting for access led to Proposition 20 in 1972, the permanent establishment of California Coastal Commission, the California Coastal Trail, and ongoing access wars.
A beach battle in Santa Barbara County was covered recently by the LA Times (“Judge’s ruling signals a sea change in Hollister beach access battle,” by Rosanna Xia, Feb. 11, 2019). The settlement between the Coastal Commission and attorneys for the gated Hollister Ranch development south of Point Conception did not represent the public’s interest, a judge said. (Guess not. People could come in with guides, or paddle in from public lands two miles away.)
Now it’s back to the drawing board, with public access still blocked while a new plan takes shape—a standoff that has already gone on for more than three decades. This is how it’s done: hire good attorneys, buy time.
So it’s a relief that public access along much of the Central Coast is so good—starting in San Francisco, where you’ll want extra time to explore the new Presidio, now part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Those views!
There’s plenty more beach and generally good access as you straggle south along the coast—as elsewhere, sometimes the trail is the shoulder of Highway 1—through weekend crowds can get crazy. But don’t miss that spectacular, fairly new section of the California Coastal Trail in San Mateo County, at Devil’s Slide.
For me, it’s not until you get near Monterey Bay that the psychic fog lifts—cities do me in—though the actual fog makes this bay area. Here’s John Steinbeck describing the Monterey Peninsula, in Tortilla Flats: “The wind . . . drove the fog across the pale moon like a thin wash of watercolor. . . . The treetops in the wind talked huskily, told fortunes and foretold deaths.” Step lively, people, but step carefully.
The coast is exceedingly walkable here, from Santa Cruz to Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel—not Pebble Beach, not yet—yet gets trickier through Big Sur, because there, most of the coast is wild and rocky and privately owned. You can get to the beach at a few state parks, but otherwise the choice is strolling the highway or hiking inland.
Things improve greatly at the state beaches near San Simeon and beyond, Cayucos, Morro Bay, and Nipomo Dunes. Then you have to hike inland along Highway 1 through most of Santa Barbara County. (Remember those access wars we just talked about?) But you can get to the coast at county parks such as Ocean Beach and Jalama Beach.
There are the several stupendous state beach parks, access at Goleta and the UC Santa Barbara campus, then some Santa Barbara city parks and beaches. Otherwise, if you’re not rich, from Santa Barbara south, access to the coast is a beach—a public beach.
