By katyushak in June, 2011
Rode this trail in early June 2011. It is an easy 10 mile trail that is used by both casual and avid cyclists, as well as pedestrians. Rode during lunch on a week day, so there were a few pedestrians walking on their lunch break (I am assuming) on upper part of the trail.
If you start the trail at the very top (Pacifica and Spectrum), you will have to cross several intersection at the regular pedestrian crossings, meaning you would have to stop, wait for the light, etc. So, it is better to start west of Alton Parkway (you can park in any number of parking lots). West of Alton, the trail passes under the bridge (except Jeffrey road crossing), so there is no need to stop at all.
The elevation change from trail head in Irvine to the intersection of University Dr. and Jamboree Road is just 187 ft. It gets hilly past there, before you get to the beach.
Overall, excellent trail, and definitely worth spending a day riding it on the way to the beach, spending a day there, and then riding back.
By trailbear in December, 2010
12/23/2010
The Seven Days of Rain, recently departed, did more damage to the San Diego Creek Trail at the Upper Newport Bay. In the Rain Week of January 2010 the floods tore out the side of the weir dam at the Jamboree Rd. bridge and cut away part of the bank holding the trail.
The solution: Put up three barricades. All the better to keep you on the trail and out of the bay. One thinks: Dude, your dam has been breached. Is that an issue with you?
The Personal Best for the creek has about 49,000 CFPS and that dam doesn't look engineered to deal with anything near that. It's just a rip rap berm concreted over with a center channel. Ends anchored in dirt do not inspire - or hold.
Now the bank has been undercut to the point that the barricades have tumbled down below and the edge is within a yard of the trail. The next good deluge of water down the creek should undercut the trail. When that happens, expect the city to hear from a lot of unhappy users.
TrailBear
Taking that curve at a slow bell.
By toolbear in January, 2010
1.19.10
Had to wait four months to see what the creek trails looked like with some water in the creeks.
Today we had another in a series of fronts - with another one due tomorrow night. A whole line of red cells trooped over the OC. If it was raining in Irvine, it was really raining in the mountains above.
Check out the pix on the Peters Canyon Wash Trail and San Diego Creek Trail for a glimpse of moving water. Gone are the ducks and herons poking about in the weeds. Gone are the weeds. Some are draped over the trail guard rails. More have gone to the Back Bay.
The undercrossings are mostly flooded out. Not "Dabble in the water and get your tires wet" flooded. More like "get swept sideways thru the railings and down the creek" flooded. I did not get up to the I-5 undercrossing. That should have been outstanding. It's almost at water level in the dry season and there is mud caked on the lights way up in the tunnel. Next storm, perhaps.
The two best places to watch San Diego Creek in spate are at Bill Barber Park and West Yale Loop. Check out the bend in the trail there at Bill Barber. Peters Canyon Wash and SDC meet there. SDC was running really fast today.
Below the bridge at West Yale Loop is the Dragons Teeth Dam. You can see the dry season photo of what concrete obstacles are creating that cauldron of boiling water. If you go over the dam, you are so dead. Driven under and smashed against the teeth. Watched logs and bits of tree try it. They would submerge for a while, then surface, then down again. It will change back. Last week the ducks were wandering around down there.
Checking the stream gauges, I noted with interest that there must be Walls of Water coming down the creeks. The gauges would suddenly rise almost straight up. Don't get caught in one of those.
Ride on!
TrailBear