Exploring the PV Peninsula

Seeing as I'll be spending the upcoming week cooped up indoors doing my qualifying exams, I went for an outdoor double-dip this weekend. My buddy Gregg sent along a couple trails on the Palos Verdes peninsula, so after a hearty Sunday breakfast I went for it.

First stop was Malaga Cove, and a hike along the coastline. The trailhead is at Malaga Cove School, which with its palm trees, manicured landscaping, and ornate spires is pretty much exactly like my elementary school, and I'm sure yours too:


Most of the shoreline here is rocky and narrow, so a check of the tide table and surf was a must. Tide was relatively low (2') and dropping when I arrived, and surf was moderate (3-5') so I figured all would be well. Unfortunately I only got about 5min down the beach before I ran into an impasse:


With the crashing surf and no knowledge of what lied around the corner, trying to shoot around this point would have been a bad call, despite having stashed the car key away in my trusty, waterproof Otter Box. I figure the winter surf and storms probably eroded a normally wider beach - it would be interesting to return here later in the year. So I hiked back up the bluff, down the road a bit, and found another path down to the water, just north of Bluff Cove. From there I hiked down the rocky beach toward Rocky Point. This was a good ankle workout with all the loose rocks.

Rocky coastline

Along the way I spotted a bunch more wildflowers (I'm surprised how many are still out this late in the spring!), a dead sea lion, some lizards, decent tidepools, and few other hikers.

Beachside flora

Even though it was a beautiful day, if a bit windy, the rockhopping seemed to deter most other visitors, who stuck to the bluffs above. After a while I decided that I too had enough rockhopping, and just short of the point scrambled up a big storm drain to the blufftop road, which I followed back to the car. Roundtrip distance for this part of the trip was around 4.8mi, with a net 300' elevation gain/loss.

Blufftop tree along the return route

Next I drove up through Rolling Hills to Del Cerro Park, a really nice spot perched atop the hill with beautiful views of the coast and out to Catalina Island. I did a quick, easy, and pleasant 1.7mi, 350' roundtrip to the top of a little pine-treed knoll, where I had some lunch and enjoyed the view.

Scenic knoll near Del Cerro Park - note Catalina Two Harbors isthmus on the crooked horizon

My favorite part of this hike was walking through the tall, reddish-hued grass that swayed in the wind:


So, after about 13mi of outdoor exploring over the weekend, I suppose it's about time for me to get back to work...at least temporarily.

A hui hou!