Challenges Arising for Users of Eroding Capo Beach Path

Community advocates have been raising alarms about the popular, but rapidly eroding path between Doheny and Capistrano (Capo) Beaches. This short trail has allowed unrestricted travel between the Dana Point Harbor and Capo Beach for more than a century. It provides vital access to the historic stretch that was home to Ned Doheny's doomed Capistrano Beach Club that sat along the shoreline where the Hobie Cat was first tested. Recently, heavy swells and surges caused Capistrano Beach Park to lose a beautiful boardwalk and fencing, a popular basketball court, restrooms, sidewalks and parts of its parking lot. OCParks has mitigations in place and is working on long term solutions for an improved, albeit much narrower park.

Local advocacy group Capo Cares recently started a petition to save the iconic beach trail that is suffering from similar environmental forces. They encourage readers to help out by taking the 30 seconds required to sign the petition. https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-our-coastal-trail

Meanwhile, the path continues to erode and tensions are mounting between pedestrians, many accompanied by dogs and strollers, and many bicyclists who use the path daily. Signs at each end of the path asking people to walk their bicycles, have been largely ignored. New, bright yellow signs that bluntly state "Walk Your Bikes" were recently added.

Locals have taken to social media to complain about the dangers when moving bicycles inevitably compete with dog walkers and others along a path that narrows to little more than 3 feet in some sections. Dee White, a Capistrano Beach resident, noted recently on Next Door: "I bike often. A fast road biker passed me on my right while I was walking my bike through the narrow, sandy and bumpy path. I was hit hard, knocked down and had to have stitches in my arm." Others urged caution and courtesy.

If the California Coastal Commission permits mitigation, the path can be widened, improved and made safer. Until then, bicyclists should not be surprised when angry pedestrians yell "can't you read?". When competing interests inevitably collide, it's quite a drop to the cobble strewn beach below.