The price: $0
The Journey: 3.5
The Ecological Reserve is across the street from the beach. The thing about Huntington Beach is that it's always a long-ish drive. This wasn't too bad. One of the perks is that you get to drive a little stretch on PCH along the coast...and it's one of open the stretches of PCH, so that part of the drive is pretty nice.
The Hike: 3.0
The book said the hike was easy and wheelchair accessible. So when I saw that, I figured, hey, if a wheelchair can do it, we can take the stroller. LIE. The book said the path was "hard, packed dirt." What the book didn't say was that the dirt was packed with rocky gravel and pebbles. To say that rolling the stroller over this path was difficult would be an understatement. Erin and I got our workout. Also, parts of the pathway were actually all broken up. Someone in a wheelchair would have died. Okay, that may have been a bit hyperbolic. But they would have had a difficult time.
Also, there were no trees at all, thus no shade at all. We went on a cool-ish day, so it wasn't too bad. But this walk would definitely be better earlier in the morning and not during the summer. The path is, however, quite flat. So if you're going with kids (not in a stroller), it's pretty easy.
The hike can be either 1.5 miles or 3 miles, as there are two smaller loops that could be combined to one big loop. It took us about 40 minutes (and we had to slow down occasionally to carry the stroller over the potholes).
The View: 4.0
The ecological reserve itself is nice. It's marshy and you can see the ocean. But again, no trees. Sad.
The Extras: 2.5
This is really just a straight up hike. BUT across the street is Bolsa Chica State Beach. Had we more time, we would have gone. Maybe. Since it's a state beach it would have cost $10, which I'm opposed to since I can do Newport for $2.
Overall Rating: 3.0
No comments:
Post a Comment