The Bob Jones City to the Sea Trail is a nice, pretty, easy ride but sadly too short! Be prepared to do a bit of on street biking if you want to go all the way to Avila Beach and the pier.

For beautiful panoramas and photo ops, the Morro Bay Harborwalk is tough to beat. The path is usually full of tourists, but that's OK. It makes you slow down to enjoy the majesty of Morro Rock, the shimmering waters of the bay, and the antics of frolicking sea otters.
To make this into a lengthier and more substantial bike ride, we parked and unloaded our bikes up the coast a bit at the Morro Bay Sunset parking lot on Azure Street. We then enjoyed a leisurely ride down a Class I bike path for maybe a couple of miles. You'll pass through a park and go by Morro Bay High School.
Eventually you'll come to quiet Atascadero Road where you'll turn right. The road will dogleg into Embarcadero which leads straight to the Harborwalk. Yes, you have to ride on the road for a mile or two, but the roads had little to no traffic.
All in all, a fun time was had by all on these mini bike paths, perfect for a couple of sixty year olds.
BTW: If you're looking for something a bit more substantial near Morro Bay that's not on R-T-T, then go down the coast to Montana de Oro State Park and hike or ride your bike along the bluffs on a wide, hard packed dirt path overlooking the ocean. Talk about spectacular photo ops!

I just rode the entire trail and found that the western end of the trail is gated off at N. Blosser Rd. A sign on the gate shows "No trespassing" on the levee. Trail is mostly hard packed gravel.

There's good parking at the East end of the trail. Exit 101 and go toward Avila. Turn right at the first road (about 1/4 mile) and go over the bridge. The beginning of the trail is on the left and the parking is on the right. There is now a camera on a pole and the parking lot is patrolled due to thefts last year.

The trail itself is fairly well maintained except for an area where roots have affected the asphalt.

The trail gets very crowded on the weekends and holidays between 9 am and 3 pm. There are dog walkers, joggers, kids and families riding bikes, and people walking. It's a good idea to have a bell.

At the end of the trail, you can continue out to the port, an extra 1.1 miles or just ride up to the town of Avila. There's a nice coffee shop across from the beach at the South end of the shops that also sells boxes of water. :-)

Parking and starting in Avila is more difficult as beachgoers will take up the parking, especially between 9 am and 2 or 3 pm. It is possible to park on Winter weekdays.

The County is extending the trail to connect it with downtown.

I walk this trail on the weekends with my dog, and I see so many people out there. The view of the land is BEAUTIFUL and so worth the walk. It's peaceful and safe. I am so glad I walked this trail. It's good for bikers too with more than enough room for everyone. Come out and enjoy this trail!!

At the south end of the trail you will come upon Waller Park. This is not a trail, but the ride throughout the park is far better than the trail itself, which has no real draw, except that it is a designated two lane bike trail.

Riding through the park, which is full of beautiful pines, lush green lawns, a small pond, and minimal, 10 mile per hour, traffic. At keast that was the case when we rode in the late afternoon. A great place to stop for a picnic lunch. This is a day use park, so there are bathrooms, tables, etc.

I understand that the trail starts on SLO. I took the shorter southern route starting from the 101 to Avila beach. Very shady as it winds alongside SLO creek. There is some kind of resort about halfway through that has some resting areas. On a hot summer day, this ride is cool, shady and nice.

I drove to Santa Marie from Buelton just to ride my Tri-Cruiser on the Trail. I found all the east entrances had very tight turns that would not let my Tri-Cruiser through. Noel Keller 28 Nov 2015

June 2015

TrailBear is headed up US 101, on the way to the San Juan Islands. Slow down to check out the new intersection in San Luis O - where his son in law is the engineer. 35.243425° -120.681557°

Something new in addition to the intersection - a bit of trail at the bottom of the sewer plant. Gotta check this out. Come about, park and walk up to see.

It extends the trail from the triangular settling pond at the south end of the sewer plant (or - waste water treatment facility) down to the intersection.

Here you pick up a bike lane for the ride down to the Johnson Ranch trailhead. From there you share the frontage road down to the upper trailhead at the Avila Beach section of trail.

The new section features a bridge over a small creek, an info kiosk with map and a parking stall for maintenance vehicles. Short, but nice.

Now you can ride from sewer to the sea. Enjoy.

TrailBear