A Real Bike Trip

Saturday, October 22

Under the gun to vacate our slip at noon, we decided to go for a very early morning bike ride to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, an estuary in Huntington Beach, a spot our friend Carolyn had recommended visiting. As it has been for days, the morning was foggy, so foggy that we could barely see. Luckily the paved trail along Long Beach is the best we’ve pedaled, wide and smooth (no tree roots!) with three lanes. Long Beach really deserves the name. It must be about 4 miles long. Oncoming bikes were few as we felt our way through the water droplets, my glasses hiding in a pocket. Charlie wondered how the gulls could see to land.

When we reached the end, it was early enough that few travelers were out. We continued along canals with every inch of mooring space occupied, mostly by white motorboats, and finally met the Pacific Coast Highway. Although in places it’s a 50 mph road, the biking world has claimed it for recreational use, at least on weekends. Following several friendly encounters with lycra clad athletes, we stopped for breakfast at a bike clogged Starbuck’s in Peter’s Landing, just a mile short of our destination.

Bolsa Chica was a military site now being restored to its natural state by the efforts of a lot of local people. A large crew of students had gathered to be instructed in the removal of invasive plants. The kids were having a great time hauling huge bags of weeds and smashing them into dumpsters. We walked out the trail to a gun emplacement passing lots of shorebirds drilling into the mud, a few mourning doves, sparrows and black peewees sitting on the wire fence. Coyotes roamed on the other side. I would have like to spend the whole day there, especially on a guided walk. Instead we zipped back, in lessening fog, and sailed off. Good-bye L.A. Hello Newport!