Revisiting Point Sal  (from  A California Explorer)

The last time I visited Point Sal, one of California’s most off the beaten track state parks, I drove to within a few yards of the beach. Admittedly, the road wasn’t great at the time, perhaps seventeen or eighteen years ago, with drifts of sand that made my wheels slip on the narrow, winding road. The road washed out in 1998, and now the only way to get there is on foot.

Fast forward to 2013. I remember the incredible look of the place and was obsessed with seeing it again. This is probably the only place on the California Coast where the shoreline makes a 90 degree turn and runs straight out for several miles before bending north again. Also, the point juts almost straight up for at least 1,200 feet to the top of the ridge.

Between pure curiosity and the need to update my travel book, I drove down Highway One past the town of Guadalupe to Brown Road and turned right. After three miles, the road ended at a gate with a sign indicating the Point Sal trail. The trail, in this case, is what’s left of the old road, which actually doesn’t look much worse than it did in the mid-1990s. Making sure I had plenty of water—none being available along the trail—I started out under a mix of blue and foggy skies.

The road climbs slightly until the first big curve, where it doubles back on itself and starts a fairly steep, two mile climb to the ridge top. For a good part of the way, I could look down at my car, looking smaller and smaller with each look.

Interestingly enough, on this hiking trip, I encountered quite a few others, while when I could still drive it, I was always on the road and beach totally alone.

All along the way, side trails branched off, each with a sign saying “Private property. No trespassing.” The signs also said that violators would be cited, so I resisted the urge to explore off trail. Apparently, all the land along the route is either private or part of Vandenberg AFB, and only a small piece of the point is actually state land.

The terrain is mostly steep, grass-covered hills, with occasional stands of trees, except down in the gullies where small streams produce a green riparian corridor.

After doubling back where I could look down on the parking area, the road curved upward toward the ridge and the line of fog over the ocean. After a couple miles of climbing, the road crossed over an old, and now filled in, cattle grate. At that point, the top of the hill was just ahead.

Then the road drops again, turns to the right and climbs slightly along the side of the hill, and at one point there’s a bit of an ocean view, and just ahead is a tall gate.

The gate is at the highest point on the trail. It’s the entrance to Vandenberg AFB, with a sign that also warns that dog teams patrol the area. From that point until reaching the beach, the hiker is walking on the base.

While I wasn’t particularly interested on hiking all the way down to the beach, I did envision hiking out along the ridge to the end of the point, believing there was an actual trail out there. Just past the gate, I learned otherwise. The path, more an improvised trail had another of those signs indicating that it was private property and citations would be issues. Apparently, that hasn’t stopped some people who have hopped the barbed wire fence and continued on, but it put a damper on my plans.

There was something compelling about the possibility of walking out to the fog-shrouded point, over the ridge line that went up and down like a sharp-edged saw blade.

A short walk down the trail, which now was dropping steeply, offered several great places to view the point and beach. The island, about three quarters of the way to the end of the point was intermittently visible through the shifting fog, and at no point on my hike could I see the end of the point. However, the beach directly below me was in full sunlight, with the bright blue water lapping on the sand. It looked almost inviting enough to warrant the additional two plus miles each way.

However, after walking down the trail a bit further, where I could see the road twist in loops down to the beach, past some AFB buildings, I had second thoughts. The trail down is much steeper—more elevation, less distance-- than the one up from the parking area, and as it turned out, all of the half dozen parties I encountered along the way were only going as far as the view, about three miles hike from the trailhead. Also, once at the bottom, there’s only a small beach. The shoreline along the point is bluffs and impassible, and everything south of the small beach is AFB property.

A short, steep climb brought me back to the gate and the walk back. One interesting thing about the return trip was the view east, beyond the dry hills to the green, fertile flatlands near Santa Maria, the wide flood plain of the Santa Maria River, rich with crops.

After a six miles hike, I still had dreams of actually seeing the point, so I drove north on Highway One to Guadalupe and turned left on Main Street (166) for the 4.8 miles to Guadalupe Dunes County Park. The road ends at a parking lot at the beach. During the summer the dunes are cordoned off for the nesting plovers, but people are free to hike the beach. So I started south toward Mussel Rock, almost two miles away, through soft beach sand and blowing fog.

I had read that it’s possible to go over Mussel Rock and down to Paradise Beach and on to the point. The problem is that getting over Mussel Rock requires climbing a 500 foot, steep sand dune, one that even the athletic, young county ranger was reluctant to do. Even should one make the climb, getting to the point, just as from the trail, is only possible by trespassing over private land. In short, a truly determined person can get out to the point, but only with great difficulty and the risk of a citation.

So, part of the mystery and draw of Point Sal is the elusive point, rarely visible and very hard to reach.

Getting there:  From Highway 101 at Nipomo at the south end of San Luis Obispo County, take Willow Rd. west to Hwy. 1 and go left through Guadalupe to Brown Rd, or from Santa Maria, north end of Santa Barbara County, take 166 west (Main Street) to Hwy. 1 at Guadalupe and turn left to Brown Rd, then right to end.