Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

As Sunset Cliffs crumble into the sea...

Will anything be done for beach access for the masses?

In the early morning hours of March 15, the southernmost beach access point in Sunset Cliffs Natural Park failed.

The dawn patrol surfers were met with a drastically altered bluff face. Overnight, the bottom eight feet of the cliff broke off in a solid piece, taking with it the footholds used to get down the cliff to the beach, leaving a sheer vertical drop.

Sponsored
Sponsored

By that afternoon, a line of up to 200 people were waiting to crawl up and down the cliff. Surfboards and babies, 12-packs and umbrellas were passed hand to hand as young spring-break girls were gently boosted up the cliff face.

A surfer girl who has plenty of experience surfing there came in with a broken nose and large gash over her eye from getting hit by her board. She was moved to the front of the line and helped up the cliff with her board.

The situation got a bit chaotic as some people became impatient and tried to find an alternate route up the cliff. This resulted in a huge safety issue as there would be three or four people clinging to the slippery cliff face and sliding off onto the rocks/beach below.

One old guy was there trying to carve steps into the sandstone to replace the ones that had broken off, but he wasn't having much luck.

The city's master plan for Sunset Cliffs Natural Park calls for an informal access point there, with no plans for any kind of permanent structure to access the intertidal zone. Unfortunately, no one foresaw the exponential growth in visitation of the area that has been brought on by Twitter/Yelp/Instagram/Facebook etc.

During medium and high tides access/egress to/from the intertidal zone will be more dangerous as waves that were previously deflected by the natural shape of the cliff face now crash directly into and up the access point.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Timken museum among best in world

Balboa Park is such a pleasant place, it can almost seem a waste to spend time indoors
Next Article

A rope course designed to resemble the Giant Dipper at Belmont Part

Maruta Gardner Playground - a parent's playground

In the early morning hours of March 15, the southernmost beach access point in Sunset Cliffs Natural Park failed.

The dawn patrol surfers were met with a drastically altered bluff face. Overnight, the bottom eight feet of the cliff broke off in a solid piece, taking with it the footholds used to get down the cliff to the beach, leaving a sheer vertical drop.

Sponsored
Sponsored

By that afternoon, a line of up to 200 people were waiting to crawl up and down the cliff. Surfboards and babies, 12-packs and umbrellas were passed hand to hand as young spring-break girls were gently boosted up the cliff face.

A surfer girl who has plenty of experience surfing there came in with a broken nose and large gash over her eye from getting hit by her board. She was moved to the front of the line and helped up the cliff with her board.

The situation got a bit chaotic as some people became impatient and tried to find an alternate route up the cliff. This resulted in a huge safety issue as there would be three or four people clinging to the slippery cliff face and sliding off onto the rocks/beach below.

One old guy was there trying to carve steps into the sandstone to replace the ones that had broken off, but he wasn't having much luck.

The city's master plan for Sunset Cliffs Natural Park calls for an informal access point there, with no plans for any kind of permanent structure to access the intertidal zone. Unfortunately, no one foresaw the exponential growth in visitation of the area that has been brought on by Twitter/Yelp/Instagram/Facebook etc.

During medium and high tides access/egress to/from the intertidal zone will be more dangerous as waves that were previously deflected by the natural shape of the cliff face now crash directly into and up the access point.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ligaya Malones & Deanna Sandoval: San Diego Cooks, La Mesa Oktoberfest, Eric Darius and Marcus Anderson

Events October 3-October 5, 2024
Next Article

Air toxins plague Escondido, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, Tijuana

"The smell has improved since Mexico turned their pumps on"
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader