Trestles / San Onofre State Beach

I was driving south on the 5 freeway on Monday and had one of those weird urges to pull off the road and walk down to the beach.  Not being one to ignore my urges, I exited at the far south end of San Clemente and took the hike to Trestles.  This is a really interesting area.  It's one of the very last "old California" beaches that you have to hike to and that is totally undeveloped.  It also happens to be one of the best surfing spots in So. CA.  If you follow the news, you know there have been lots of people fighting over what to do with this area, and you see bumper stickers saying "Save Trestles!"  I really hope the surfers win, and that Trestles remains exactly as is.  It's about a 1-mile hike each way, and if you get a chance, I highly recommend you follow your urge and pull off the road and take this hike!


A word about the photos.  These were taken on my iPhone and I used the first image below as the background layer for all of them.  My thinking was that when you hike to Trestles, you feel a little like you've stepped back in time.  I wanted these photos to have that 'old California' look (whatever that is).  My wife said a couple of them looked like old film photos that have been bleached out by the sun... perfect!!

Background layer. I placed my photos
on top of this layer in Photoshop.

The start of the hike.  The ocean is just barely noticeable
on the horizon.  To the left (south) are the San Onofre nuclear
power plants, although they can't be seen from here.

Unidentified weed or thistle along the hike.

Riparian area... Sycamore tree and a creek to the left of the trail.  Cool!

This is my most abstract photo, but one of my favorites.  The hike
 takes you directly under the 5 freeway!  Looking up, the southbound
lanes are on the right; northbound lanes on the left.

Rusty lock on barbed wire fence

Because of the long distance down to the water, you see a lot of
surfers using bikes with their boards attached.

Surf's Up!