La Jolla Caves

La Jolla Caves

Distance: 1 mile Hiking Time: 1 Hour Elevation Gain/Loss: Negligible Difficulty: Moderate

Directions: From northbound Interstate 5 or westbound highway 52, take La Jolla Parkway west towards La Jolla. La Jolla Parkway merges into Torrey Pines Road after 1.3 miles. Immediately after, turn right on La Jolla Shores Drive. Go one block, turn left on Paseo Dorago and continue to Spindrift Drive and the Marine Room restaurant. Find street parking in the area. A beack-access sidewalk alongside the restaurant leads to the sand.

South of the wide La Jolla Shores Beach, the sand disappeats and wave-washed cliffs begin. Just offshore, La Jolla Canyon swallows the sand that normally would migrate down the coast.

The western most cave is well-known among tourists and natives alike. It can be reached from above by a long stairway that begins inside the Cave Store and passes through a human-made tunnel. The half dozen or so other grotto’s in the series are usually only accessible by water, or very low tides.

Check the tide tables for the most favorable low ties and begin your hike from the Marine room about 30 minutes before the predicted low. Work your way over the cliff-hugging cobbles, or across the newly exposed tidepools.

The biggest grotto is enormous, about 50 feet high at it’s entrance.

Enjoy and don’t forget about the incoming tide!