Name: Goleta Beach Trail
Rating: 4.0

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Features Swimming · Views

Family Friendly While they will certainly enjoy it, kids might not make it very far down the beach when they have the option to play in the sand.

Be sure to only hike this trail during low tide.

Description

Starting from the Goleta Beach Pier, this trail heads up the coast along the sandy beach as it passes a grassy picnic area slightly inland. The trail will start to curve southward with the beach at this point, and you'll start to hike below a series of tall cliffs. If the tide is too high to hike the beach along this portion, you can follow the Campus Point Trail instead. However if the tide is low enough, you can simply follow the beach as it heads further south. After nearly 0.7 miles, you'll reach Campus Beach – a popular destination for the UC Santa Barbara community.

Continuing on the trail further up-shore, you can hike on the beach around Campus Point if the tide is still low enough. After hiking slightly further, you'll reach the sandy and beautiful Isla Vista Beach. The trail then continues for the length of this beach before terminating in an Isla Vista residential area.

Thanks to John McKinney, The Trailmaster, for sharing this trail description. To learn more about trails in California, check out his guides at The Trailmaster Store.