A Coastal Sojourn: Beginning the California Missions Trail

May 1, 2023

When the mission network was built in Spain’s Alta California region between 1769 and 1823, the 21 structures were located within 30 miles of the coast. However, most of the 800-mile California Missions Trail route travels inland, meaning we would not see the coastline for the majority of our trek. So we appreciated the opportunity to sojourn along the coast during our first five days, visiting two missions in the process.

When we decided to embark on the California Missions Trail, one of the things that appealed to us was the close proximity of the route to our Palm Desert home. Traveling to San Diego to begin our trek was easy. We took a bus to Fullerton (in Orange County) and then boarded a train from there. After our arrival in San Diego we spent the night in the Old Town section of the city.

Beginning Our Journey at California’s First Mission

The next morning we took the San Diego trolley to our trail starting point at the Mission San Diego de Alcala. San Diego is the location of the first Spanish mission that was founded in 1769. The original structure was on a nearby hill overlooking the bay and moved to this location in 1774.

As we arrived, our eyes were immediately drawn to the mission’s 46-foot high campanario or bell wall, consisting of five bells. The largest bell weighs 1,200 pounds.

We timed our visit to arrive right when the mission opened, so we had the church and museum to ourselves.

There were many blooming plants and flowers on the grounds.

As we concluded our visit, we took a photo in front of a sign on the external wall signifying the southern terminus of the El Camino Real (The Royal Road or King’s Highway). Soon after we began our journey on foot.

Unlike most trails we have hiked there are no markings whatsoever on this route. So we needed to rely on the daily courses I created and loaded on my phone and Darren’s watch. Those courses were based on two books I bought, with some custom modifications of our own.

We walked west on a combination of roads and bike paths toward Mission Bay.

Right before we reached Mission Bay and a bike path we would follow for the remainder of the day, we saw a sign that the road was closed ahead. We used Google Maps on my phone to route us around the closure before finally reaching Mission Bay.

We turned north for the first time upon reaching the water. After an enjoyable hike along the bike path, we completed our 11.4-mile day near Pacific Beach.

Visiting a College Campus and Natural Preserve

Our second day was an 11.8-mile stage. This gave us the opportunity to spend time visiting both the UC San Diego campus and Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve as we continued to trek north from San Diego. The day started on a bike path for the first few miles. We then turned onto a road, which took us to the UCSD campus. 

We enjoy visiting colleges, so we took some time to explore some of the 2,000-acre campus. I had been to UCSD about 15 years ago, but it was Darren’s first time at the university. He especially likes libraries, so we made sure to stop at the main school’s Geisel Library. Named for Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), its distinctive architecture makes it the most recognizable building on campus.

Posing with the UCSD Triton mascot; the main school library

We continued hiking to arrive at Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve. The park protects the rare pine tree of the same name. One historical highlight of the area was a walk on a road that was paved in 1915 as the main motorway between Los Angeles and San Diego. 

Even with the paved road, the steep grade provided challenges to the cars of the time. For example, Model T vehicles had to climb the hill in reverse, due to its design that used gravity to feed gas to the engine in the front of the car.

We especially enjoyed the viewpoints and took a detour down two short trails to see the ocean. As we walked through the wilderness area of the preserve, we got some insight into what the area might have looked like when the Spanish explorers or Native peoples roamed the land. 

Views from Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve

The path began to take a steep downhill turn, taking us quickly from the Torrey Pine bluffs to the coastal beach.

For the rest of the stage we alternated between walking on the beach and bike paths into Del Mar. Our extra excursions around the campus and preserve increased our overall mileage to about 13.3 miles for the day. 

Passing through a Variety of Coastal Cities and Beaches

A hike through an variety of cities and communities awaited us on our third stage of trekking. While we had some actual sidewalk street hiking, we also navigated sections along converted rail trails. And there were some welcome stretches of walking on the beaches.

City and community signs as we head north

Walking on the city streets gave us an opportunity to take leisurely breaks. We stopped for coffee and donuts at one point. There was always something interesting to see around us, including murals and statues. One sculpture that we admired in Cardiff-by-the-Sea was called the “Magic Carpet Ride.” We learned that it also goes by the local nickname “Cardiff Kook.”

Walking along the city streets; “Cardiff Kook” surfer sculpture

Whenever the route detoured onto the beach we enjoyed the ocean views and long stretches of trekking on the sand.

Between the communities we hiked on bike paths next to the highway, providing us with another ocean perspective from above.

We finished our 12.6-mile stage in Carlsbad. The city got its name due to the similarity between its well water composition and that of the famous Bohemian town of Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic).

A Hotel Drop-off and River Hike to Mission San Luis Rey

Stage four of our trek was divided into two parts. The first was a 7.2-mile walk from Carlsbad to the city of Oceanside. Similar to the previous day, the route alternated between city streets and beaches. As we hiked on a Saturday morning, we saw many surfers in the water.

Soon, we could see the Oceanside city pier in the distance. Our hotel was just a short distance away. Since it was late morning, we checked our backpacks at the lobby and ate some lunch before heading out on the next portion of our stage.

To complete the 13.5-mile day, we needed to walk an additional 6.3 miles inland to reach Mission San Luis Rey. Since we had been almost exclusively on the coast since leaving San Diego, we began to feel the heat as the clouds cleared and the sun came out during our walk east. Almost our entire distance was covered on a bike path paralleling the San Luis Rey River.

Walking toward Mission San Luis Rey after leaving our hotel

We reached the mission at a little before 2:00 pm. Even though San Luis Rey is the second mission going south to north, it was the 18th built overall, in 1798. The site was chosen to bridge the distance between the missions in San Diego and San Juan Capistrano. The mission became one the largest in the entire Alta California Spanish network, with land covering more than a 15-mile radius. That included today’s cities of Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Vista.

Because of its later construction, San Luis Rey is the only mission with a surviving church cruciform layout, resembling a cross. We marveled at the unique wooden cupola and dome that let in light from above into the altar area. 

Church altar; wooden cupola and dome

After visiting the museum and church, we walked to the mission courtyard and garden.

The garden featured a pepper tree planted with seeds from Peru in 1830. It is the oldest such tree in California. 

Rather than retrace our steps to Oceanside, we took a local bus back to our hotel.

Navigating a Military Base and Reaching Our First Rest Day

Camp Pendleton, established in 1942, is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. Accessing the base by foot is not allowed unless you are accompanied at all times by someone with military identification. So we had to forgo 10 miles of walking through the southern portion of the base.

Fortunately, the Old Pacific Coast Highway, which parallels and predates the current I-5 interstate, has a bike trail easement through the northern portion of the base. So we called an Uber from our hotel to take us there to begin our day’s walk. When the driver pulled up, he was momentarily confused as to how we could go to the base without a military ID, but we assured him that it wasn’t a problem.

After our 10-minute drive, we left our Uber and began our 13.3-mile stage walk.  Since it was a Sunday, there were many bikers using the path. We only saw one other set of walkers in the distance.

After a few miles, we reached San Onofre State Beach, with occasional glimpses of the ocean from the bluffs.

We left San Diego County and entered Orange County in San Clemente, where we joined a coastal beach path.

At the city’s pier, we ended our stage, having hiked 62.7 miles over the previous five days since leaving San Diego. 

The first few days of the trek exceeded our expectations, with beautiful scenery, interesting cities and towns, and two very special mission visits. We were impressed with the routing provided by the books that generally kept us on footpaths, sidewalks, and bike trails. Our coastal sojourn complete, we will take a rest day in San Clemente before turning inland to continue north to the next mission – San Juan Capistrano. 

We made a video summarizing our impressions from our first few days of trekking. Take a look: