San Onofre Bluffs Trail

San Onofre Bluffs Trail is the access route to the 3-mile beach that runs below 100-foot sandstone bluffs at the southern end of San Onofre State Beach, downcoast of the decommissioned nuclear plant. Six dirt trails numbered 1 through 6 from north to south cut into the bluff face from Old Highway 101, each dropping about 160 feet to the shore. Trail 6 is the southernmost and takes the most day-use traffic. Walking the beach from Trail 1 to Trail 6 and back covers 5.6 miles. The campground and the day-use parking sit along the old highway above, at 5200 South Pacific Coast Highway.

The beach below is sand for long stretches and solid cobblestone for others, and this end of the park carries more rock than any other. Waves breaking across that sand and cobble make the shoreline a surf zone biome. Where the cobble thickens and rock shows through near the tideline, the bottom becomes a rocky reef biome, low and patchy, with no kelp canopy over it. Because the two bottoms alternate along the 3 miles, conditions change noticeably between one trail and the next.

This is the quietest of the 3 beach areas in the park, since every visit starts with a descent and ends with the climb back up. Surfing over the rock and sand bottoms draws the most use, and surf fishing from the cobble is productive. Swimming is common in summer near the busier trails, and snorkeling on the inshore rock happens on flat days. Spearfishing and scuba stay uncommon, because the relief is low and no kelp grows within swimming distance of the sand.

Day use costs $15, paid at the bluff-top lots along Old Highway 101, and an annual California State Parks pass covers it. The trails are cut into loose sandstone and erode continuously, so individual trails close without much warning after storms, and at least one has collapsed outright in recent years. No marine protected area covers this coast, and fishing and spearfishing are legal under standard California regulations.