For years, there’s been talk of connecting the 30 miles of trails that crisscross Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park to the beach. Now planning a route for the “Trail to Sea” has started.
Laguna Beach and the California Coastal Commission have agreed to start studying possible alignments for a 1- to a 2-mile trail connecting to the county wilderness park’s Aswut trailhead, which is close to Moulton Meadows Park in the city’s Arch Beach Heights neighborhood.
The City Council recently approved $30,000 of the $250,000 set aside for the trail, to be used by the Laguna Canyon Foundation to study the trail’s feasibility and possible alignments.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm about this long-awaited trail connection,” said Hallie Jones, CEO of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, adding that she and others at the foundation are pleased to be working with the city, various landowners, the environmental community and others to study where to connect the wilderness park with the beach. “While we are very early in that process, we’re confident that our professional trail-building team will be able to provide a robust and thorough analysis of potential routes.”
At present, three routes are being considered. One would track along the western slope of Aliso Canyon, another would end at Ocean Vista Drive, and a third connection could come down the canyon, cross some city property and end in a parking lot behind The Ranch Resort, which is nestled in Aliso Canyon.
The $250,000 for the trail and its study comes from The Ranch, which in 2015 was permitted by the Coastal Commission to renovate the 1962-era resort. The payment was part of the coastal development permit and the $250,000 was kept by the city for the purpose of planning and permitting the public trail.
“I’m very excited to see what it’ll turn into,” Councilman Alex Rounaghi said, “but I don’t really know what it’ll turn into because we’re just doing the study.”
Mark Christy, who…
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