Alta Vicente Trail

Kyong-Mi has gone to Palos Verdes peninsula, which is outside of San Pedro and Long Beach, California.  She couldn't remember the name of the trailhead she was on the last time.  She decided to just wing it with her GPS to find any trailhead at Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The trip was worth the drive.  It was scenic and the roads were under construction.  Because it is a Sunday, the roads were not being worked on, and the recently paved roads were windy and bumpy.  Some areas felt like going down a roller coaster.  

They found the parking lot to the trailhead at:
30940 Hawthorne Blvd
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
90275

The trailhead is a rocky path on the side of the parking lot and takes you down stairs.  Once passed the stairway, the trail takes you near a Canary Island palm tree.  There are plenty of flying bugs, the occasional lizard, squirrels and rabbits running away into the shrubbery.  

At some point, the trail inclines and you can see a beautiful view of the ocean and lighthouse across the street.  There is a steep trail going up the side of the hill.  Good hiking boots would come in handy on the hill.  Kyong-Mi learned the hard way by wearing an old pair of beat-up running shoes.  

At the summit of the hill is an amazing view of a lagoon below.  There is a parking lot and a cove where water pounds the side of the cliff.  You can spot a lot of tourists checking out the water.

Continuing on downard, there are old, defunct farming machinery.  Following the Alta Vicente trail down, it leads you to the street.  The "sidewalk" is paved like the trail, with sand, gravel, and rocks. Trevor and Kyong-Mi walked along the street until they came upon a church.  The church has a parking-lot that ends at a cul-de-sac.  To the right, in the cul-de-sac, is the trailhead that takes you back up toward the stairs they initially walked down in the beginning.

Kyong-Mi did not time their hike, and they stopped a lot to check out the view, and so she could snap pictures of the plants and scenery, and even talk to a couple ladies about the trail.  

Alta Vicente trailhead marker

Lantana flowers

Milk Thistle

Canary Island date palm

Snails on fennel plant

Fennel

Trevor to get a picture with the lighthouse behind them

Prickly pear cactus flower

View below us as we began ascending

Rocks aligned part of the trail

Sour fig succulent

Crown Daisy

Early 20th Century pull grader

1930s row crop tractor

The trail deadends at the street.  They continued down the street and around Alta Vicente.  The trail back to their car was found via a church parking lot while following the road.

Sea lavender