Scripps Coastal Meander Trailhead at La Jolla Shores Drive, just north of Biological Grade. A sign indicates Coastal Trail Access.
Please join me for a short but absolutely amazing walk.
We’re going to start at the Scripps Coastal Meander Trailhead on La Jolla Shores Drive and pass through part of the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography. We’ll enjoy breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and nearby coast. We’ll pause at a spot of historical importance. We’ll encounter some beautiful artwork.
Let’s go!
The Scripps Coastal Meander coincides with a short segment of the California Coastal Trail.Starting down the trail.Moving through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus. Someone reads a sign ahead.Starting along a raised wooden walkway with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean.Sign describes the Scripps Coastal Meander, a publicly accessible walking route through the Scripps campus. It is part of the California Coastal Trail.A map on the sign shows the California Coastal Trail in relation to the beach, the Scripps Coastal Reserve Biodiversity Trail, Scripps Pier and La Jolla Shores.Heading down the wooden walkway with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean, Scripps Pier, and La Jolla Cove in the distance.A paraglider from the Torrey Pines Gliderport floats in the sky above a campus building.Soaring high above the beautiful coast.Looking down from the trail at native flora atop the cliffs above the beach. Dike Rock can be seen jutting through the breaking surf.Walking along on a beautiful, sunny San Diego day.A bench waits ahead.Bench overlooks the wide blue ocean.Opa’s Bench is dedicated to Arnold Krause. His journey began in Germany and ended in San Diego.Two small birds on a rope.Continuing on, I passed a student who attends world renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography.Another sign ahead.Conserving California’s Coastal Treasures. Sign describes Marine Protected Areas. Just offshore is the San Diego-Scripps Coastal SMCA.Continuing down the path, I see something interesting to the right.A marker stands at what was the oldest known archaeological site in Southern California–radiocarbon dated in 1962–occupied by the La Jollan I Indians almost 8000 years ago.Approaching a small grassy park with a sculpture.The sculpture is Spring Stirring by world famous sculptor Donal Hord, 1948, a gift of Cecil and Ida Green in 1964.Spring Stirring, by artist Donal Hord.Starting along a narrow walkway around the perimeter of the Judith and Walter Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Munk Laboratory.Looking north up the coast toward Black’s Beach and Torrey Pines State Reserve.Looking southwest at Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier, which is used for ocean research by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.Beyond Scripps Pier and Scripps Beach is La Jolla Shores and the Village of La Jolla.
UPDATE!
I walked this way again in early 2022, and noticed an “Authorized Personnel Only” sign has appeared at the narrow walkway with the amazing view in my final few photographs. Best not to go that way anymore.
By heading back east to Biological Grade road, you can resume a walk south down the marked California Coastal Trail to the foot of Scripps Pier and beyond!
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Taking the ferry from downtown San Diego to Coronado is like crossing into a dream. It’s a journey to a magical place. The island is like a small, carefree paradise.
I had a variety of photos from my ferry ride and walk yesterday, so I thought I’d try converting a few into oil paintings! I cropped selected images then used the Oilify artistic filter that comes with the GIMP graphics editor.
It was a beautiful misty winter day.
Those are sea lions lying on a buoy in the bay!
The words etched in the sand near the Coronado Ferry Landing? I’ll let you decide.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A van wrapped with many colors stands at one corner of the National City Marine Terminal on San Diego Bay!
You don’t see this every day!
Under Wraps is unusual public artwork that now stands at one corner of the National City Marine Terminal. It’s best seen by walking out onto the small Pepper Park fishing pier.
Under Wraps is a sculptural intervention on an old work van, which has been wrapped about with colorful nautical fiber. This unique artwork was created by Randy Walker, who also used nautical fiber in his “Sweet Contents” at San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. I recently blogged about that here.
The National City Marine Terminal in San Diego Bay is where up to 400,000 imported cars arrive by immense roll-on/roll-off car carrying ships every year. The 180-acre facility is operated by Pasha Automotive Services.
According to a sign on the pier, Under Wraps will be on view through February 2019. So if you plan to be in San Diego’s South Bay, go check it out while you have the chance!
Under Wraps, an artwork by Randy Walker, is best seen from the Pepper Park pier. A work van is wrapped with colorful nautical fiber at the National City Marine Terminal!Fishing from the Pepper Park pier near public artwork that was commissioned by the Port of San Diego.A kid got super excited when these guys caught a mackerel from the pier!Now that’s something you don’t see every day! Under Wraps is colorful public art that adds a splash of character to the National City Marine Terminal.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
During a recent walk out onto the pier at Cesar Chavez Park, my eyes were dazzled by the surrounding complexity.
The cranes of nearby barges and distant shipyards . . . the curving San Diego-Coronado Bridge . . . the various structures, rails and benches on the pier . . . all of these elements combined with reflections and shadows to create interesting geometric patterns.
I cropped and altered the contrast of many photos to make them even more visually abstract and thought-provoking.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Sweet Contents is the title of public art that has added color to three storage tanks at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.
Surprising public art now decorates three large storage tanks at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal just south of downtown San Diego!
Sweet Contents, by artist Randy Walker, adds color to several old, unsightly tanks that used to store molasses and palm oil. The public art was commissioned by the Port of San Diego for their Port Spaces program and will be visible through February 2019.
The three storage tanks have been draped with strands of nautical fiber. From a distance it looks like strings of many different colors are dangling down from the top of each cylindrical structure.
I took these photos from a spot by the gate of the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, Cesar Chavez Park and the adjacent pier. A friendly guard at the gate told me he met the artist, that the individual strands are about an inch wide, and that the colors are about as vibrant today as when they were installed last May.
According to a sign, which I photographed near Cesar Chavez Park, similar public art, titled Under Wraps, can be seen at the National City Marine Terminal. That particular artwork is best seen from the Pepper Park pier.
I’ll have to go check that out in the weeks ahead!
Port of San Diego sign describes Sweet Contents, an artwork by Randy Walker. Nautical fiber in many colors hangs over the exterior of the old molasses and palm oil storage tanks.A view of Sweet Contents from the grass in Cesar Chavez Park.I took this zoom photo of Sweet Contents over a wall at Cesar Chavez Park.Photo of Sweet Contents from the pier at Cesar Chavez Park. Downtown buildings are visible beyond the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
As I walked along San Diego Bay in the Crescent area, just north of the Grape Street Pier, I noticed all sorts of wavy reflections and elongated shadows. Many photographs, when I cropped them, became weird and mysterious.
A mermaid might’ve crossed through one photograph, but I’ll let you decide…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
This evening I lingered by Tuna Harbor to drink in beauty. The sun descended to the horizon, balanced upon Point Loma for one brief, precious moment, then slipped away.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Yesterday I walked to the end of Oceanside Pier. It’s another one of my favorite places.
I experienced sunshine, the sparkle of the Pacific Ocean, a fresh sea breeze, the smell of wood, the cry of seagulls . . . and happy people all around: strolling, fishing, listening to music, talking, eating ice cream, leaning over the rail gazing down at the colorful beach and surfers in the blue water awaiting the perfect wave…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
I love to watch sailboats out on San Diego Bay before sunset.
Sails stretch in the wind and capture the late sun.
Turning, fluttering, then swelling again, the dreamlike sails glide through their radiant dance. A ballet of light between the water and sky. And then the curtain closes.
Here I go again posting more photographs of sailboats.
I took these today from the end of Broadway Pier.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
I got some cool photos yesterday when I walked past new lobster traps on a pier. The cage-like traps and their shadows, which were cast on a clean flat surface, created an illusion of strange dimension and space that captured my eye.
These grids of metal and shadow remind me of some unusual sculptural artwork I recently blogged about in the gallery of San Diego’s Central Library.
The following images almost look like molecules arranged in a matrix. Intersecting parallel lines seem to form an abstract, mathematical, three dimensional space.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 