My Surf Trip to Lower Trestles Beach

After hearing about this famed surf spot for years, I finally had the chance to visit. It is only about an hour from my home, so I don’t know why it took me so long to check it out; probably because the surf is awfully good down the street from where I live. Anyhow, this is my story.



I parked my car behind the Carl’s Jr. parking lot, with many other cars that were there in the beach parking lot. Popping a caffeine pill in my mouth and swallowing down some water, I grabbed my gear and started walking. Recently, I had a couple friends warn me about drinking aspartame, so I rarely drink Diet Red Bull and opt for a simple caffeine pill these days.



The walk took about 10-15 minutes, over a bridge and the freeway, down an asphalt path and a street. Some of it was green and nice. The end of the asphalt path revealed a couple of portable bathrooms and a train track. I could barely see the beach from beneath the tracks. I crossed over them and made my way to the beach.



Apparently, Trestles is a good break because of the river that deposits sediment on the ocean floor near the beach. This means many things. First, there were lots of tiny rocks in ankle deep water. I walked few steps, then ran bag to my bag to put on my neoprene socks. There were precious few shells at this beach. I think I found three. However, there were lots of interesting little rocks and some dead aquatic life. I’m not sure how the crabs and things died, though. The place didn’t stink, but it smelled a little like the crawdad creek I used to visit when I was a kid. It meanders behind my parents’ house.

Finally, the surf. The surf was good because it was consistently breaking without much wind. There was a tiny bit of texture and that was it. It was also breaking in virtually the same spot and way each time at Lower Trestles. I took some nice lefts and rights and flipped some 360s. However, most of the time, I caught waves in waist-chest deep water and finished my ride in ankle-knee deep water. This was a little unusual. I found myself doing the side paddle – where I don’t paddle deep, but paddle with my arms fully extended, barely cupping the water on the surface because I didn’t want to hit the bottom with my hands. The peculiar thing (to me, anyway) was that this was high tide. I wonder what low tide would have been like! The sign at the entrance to the beaches said this part of Trestles was for the most advanced wave-catchers (e.g. "intermediate to expert), so this could be why. I’m sure surfers have broken skegs in the shallow water.





While I was in the water catching waves with my daughter Jordan (who did amazingly well for a 6 year old in this world class surf spot), we caught a glimpse of a large sea creature on the sand. It looked like a seal or a sea lion from where we were, so we caught the next wave in and checked it out. To our dismay, it was a dead sea lion and I could tell that it hadn’t been dead very long. Its eyes were missing, but the rest of its body was intact. It was pretty gross and we wondered what killed the poor animal.



We caught waves for about an hour and they were almost 5’ tall. It was a fun session and a good break. There was almost nobody there on this cool, cloudy day, but on a warm, summer’s day, I could imagine thousands of people there riding and watching.