On May 12th Jack and Nim arrived at the Sandpiper on Pacific Beach to celebrate their birthdays! It was a brutal traffic day and rained so heavy at times I questioned if we would be outside at all during the weekend. I got caught in 2 heavy accumulation hail storms on the way to the beach. I was so happy for the getaway I just didn't care. I remembered my knitting this time!
Nim turned 7 on May 12th, and Jack turned 5 on May 15th. The Sandpiper is where we had stayed last year and it never disappoints. We added a third night to this trip, and similar to last year, it still wasn't enough time away. It was nice to see just how comfortable the dogs are at the Sandpiper. They know the drill, and we rented the same 2 units as before.
Imagine our surprise when we woke up Saturday morning to sun. We had been prepared for Saturday to be the heavy rain day. With the skies clear, we decided to drive up to Seabrook and look into some potential trails in the area.
I just don't know what to say about Seabrook. The development is unapologetically loud, and the growth since last year is overwhelming. Seabrook has changed both the hillside and the ocean bluffs in that area dramatically. However, this town seems to have their vision, and the shop owners have never been anything short of helpful and nice. We
walked into
Buck's Bikes and were given a map of the area trails, and
some great information regarding the trails.
We started by walking north on the 109 towards the trail head for the Narnia trail. Narnia is very pretty. As you can tell from the photos, there is some obvious logging roads with some decent second growth trees. There were many old stumps from old growth long ago logged.
From Narnia we took a little side trail and hit some service roads. These service roads are probably on their way to development roads at some point. But on our sunny Saturday hike, we had the roads to ourselves. We reached a point on the map in which we should have cut through town again, but instead took this straight trail down to the 109 again. There were fairy houses all along the trail.
I have no idea what Nim is saying to Jack in that photo, but I am sure it was important. This bridge is at the end of the fairy trail and right before you hit 109 south of Seabrook. There is a little shell to collect a "toll." I wished I had had some change.
After a short walk south on the 109 we ended up on another service road and I made an executive decision that we were going to hike up the Downhill mountain bike route. This was probably not the right decision given the day had been hotter than planned but it was pretty and it was mercifully short. Technically we were supposed to actually stay on the service road and hit the Mike-O-Rama loop from the road.
The Mike-O-Rama loop is a fun cut that gives fantastic ocean views from a vantage point above 109. I would have loved to have had a little picnic up there.
We completed the Mike-O-Rama loop, went out the service road, up the 109, and back up the fairy trail to finally get back into town. While Courtney and I took turns getting food, the pups rested up from their adventure.
I would like to pack better and do this hike again. I would probably explore more of the service roads. With the development coming to Seabrook, I am hoping that more forest trails will be added. With an active mountain bike community, this is very likely to happen.
