San Luis Rey River Bike Trail in Oceanside, California

Sometimes you get the perfect day and the perfect bike trail. Today was one of those days. Carla and I are in Encinitas, CA for a respite from the grey, wet days in Seattle. Encinitas has not disappointed. We have had moderate temperatures most days and enough blue sky to heal all the winter wounds from the constant rain up north.

We discovered that about 15 minutes away was a bike trail called the ‘San Luis Rey River Trail’. It runs along the San Luis Rey River, or what appears to be a river of about a mile or so. Take a look on Google Maps and you will see a stubby, thin, and short inlet. Anyway, that soon disappears and there are about 9 miles of relatively flat, paved bike trail through a quiet spot nestled in the heart of busy southern Cal.

As we proceeded down the trail we were treated to a sky full of sky divers. About 10 of them, all with pink and blue parachutes. We thought it might be a club of sky divers, but later we concluded it was a super club known as the U.S. Military! Not sure whether Army or Air Force, but the plane was a shiny blue turbo prop, I think perhaps a PAC. It had a shiny white star on the back of the fuselage. Seeing that, we decided it was military and we had been regaled with quite a show of 10 sky divers all drifting down through the California skies in perfect form.

Once by the airport we settled into about 7 more miles of trail, winding through the dry brush elevated as you would expect from an old railroad track. Some very long streches of flat road – see below.

Looking East:

Looking West from the same spot:

We were rather proud of ourselves making it to the end of the trail, and turning around to head back to the car – 9 miles behind us! We made it with tired legs and other parts also worn out.

If you are ever in southern California, this is a great trail for a ride if you like flat (except to go under the highways now and then), relatively quiet and a not very crowded experience.