Sep 23: Leo Cabrillo State Beach to Costa Mesa (87.9 miles)

The next possible campsite is at Doheney State Beach in Dana Point, but they have recently shut down their Hiker-Biker site due to abuses by vagrants. The next site is 10 miles south in San Onofre, and the next after that is San Elijo, another 31 miles.

So, I’m not guaranteed a spot in Doheney, and that would be 2 days away. I will need to get s hotel or a WarmShowers house tonight as far south as I can get today. My goal is Long Beach, but feel more comfortable with something more southern. WarmShowers has been 0 for 3 attempts so far, so this time I’ll rely on Orbitz or hotels.com to get me tonight’s room.

It was a warm night and I was glad to have a night without the normal campground noises and lights. I got up early and hit the road. Hwy 1 through Malibu was great and starting at Santa Monica I had a beach side bike trail all the way to Redondo Beach!

I believe a version of Romeo and Juliet’ was filmed on a this setting in Santa Monica

I lunched in Redondo Beach with a great view north

The ride from Redondo Beach to Long Beach avoided Paola Verdes and passed through Torrence and Carson instead. This was a lot of hot, city riding, but I came across a couple of young girls selling fresh squeezed lemonade! Score!

It was a nice ride down a bike path to Long Beach where I saw the standard attractions

I made such good time getting to Long Beach that I decided to push on to Costa Mesa, just a bit inland from the coast, but significantly cheaper hotel rates.

By traveling this far I have more options for tomorrow: a short ride to Doheney to find out if they really do not support bikers, or a longer ride to San Elijo State Beach which would put me a day ahead of schedule.