The price: $10 for parking
If you want to just go to the beach, go to Newport; much cheaper. But if you want the strolling along the bluffs and the tide pools and you have ten bucks, do this.
The Journey: 4.0
It's a fairly quick and painless drive, particularly if you are so fortunate as have an apartment adjacent to the 73 (I know not all of you are so blessed to live on top of a freeway). There is a bit of a stretch on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, for all of you non-OC types) through Corona del Mar. It's a bit slow going, but CDM is cute and ritzy, and the ocean's to your right, so it's not too bad.
(You may be wondering why I consistently rate journeys fairly low. Silly question...I hate driving. So if I have to get in the car, it's an automatic point deduction. Since I live next to a freeway on-ramp across the street from an Arco, I pretty much always have to get in the car. Sad.)
The Hike: 3.5
The hike is a paved pathway atop the bluffs of the Pacific coast. The paved thing was nice because we could use the stroller rather than the backpack, and the path was, at least until the end, pretty flat. The view was incredible (see below), but the path itself was rather drab. Surrounding the road are shrubs and dirt. Also, there are paved paths that occasionally take you from the main trail to the beach; these were quite steep. What was good, though, was that the hike can be as short or as long as you like, as there are several parking lots and several paths to the beach (should you choose to go down to it, which you'd be dumb not to). It would also be very good for biking (if you have a bike, which I don't, which is lame).
The View: 4.5
All along the path you have a sweeping vista of the beautiful Pacific Ocean. On a clear day you could probably see Catalina. It was a little hazy on our trip, though, so we couldn't. I didn't give it a 5 because of the boring shrubs on the path.
The Extras: 4.5
Crystal Cove State Beach is quite lovely. The sand is more packed than Newport, so it's a little easier to walk on. There are random rocks offshore, and at many points along the beach there are tide pools. The path we chose to go down to the beach did not lead us to tide pools. But I know they're there because I went there once in college (how many "there"s can I fit in one sentence?). I docked a half a point because the tide pools had the audacity to not be in my general area. Also, supposedly there is a grove of eucalyptus and other various shrubbery a little to the north. Next time I'd like to see that.
Overall Rating: 4.0
No comments:
Post a Comment