Orange County - Huntington Beach - Beach to Centennial Regional Park
14 mi 
Suitable for
Touring *
Fitness *
Artistic *
Directions
From Interstate 405 in Costa Mesa, exit at Brookhurst Street heading south. About 2.5 miles down, Brookhurst meets the Pacific Coast Highway at an entrance to a Huntington State Beach parking lot. If you get there early enough on the weekend while it's still foggy, free parking can be found at the curbside on Brookhurst near the intersection. You may have to make a U-turn. Otherwise, go straight across the highway to enter the Huntington Beach parking lot and drive to the southernmost lot. The $5 fee is well spent because you can skate in three directions from this spot near the Santa Ana River, on this route plus two others described in this chapter.
Map: Orange County Bikeway Map, available free by calling the County of Orange, EMA/Transportation Planning office at (714) 834-3111.
Map: Orange County Bikeway Map, available free by calling the County of Orange, EMA/Transportation Planning office at (714) 834-3111.
Notes
The Santa Ana River Trail is the ideal training ground for speed and fitness skaters, or for those who are tired of battling the crowds on the beach trails. Street underpasses add to the fun by allowing short, fast downhill runs. The early morning is the best time to get in a long speed workout here, because as a high sun warms up the inland, the resulting head wind will require you to assume a dedicated tuck position on the return trip.
Skate from the south end of the parking lot on a rough path that connects to the river trail. Head inland at the river's outlet into the Pacific Ocean, where on most summer mornings, the beach is shrouded in coastal fog. At first, seawater and the tide fill the mouth of the river from bank to bank, the gray waters reflecting a gray sky. A brightly colored mural featuring a giant in-line skate decorates the first underpass, part of Operation Clean Slate. The concrete walls all along the trailside are surprisingly free of graffiti in this area, possibly due to such projects.
About a mile and a half up the river, a rough and seemingly endless wood-slat bridge will have beginners grasping at the rail. It's easiest to cross at high speeds. At this point the riverbed has become sandy, interspersed with strips of marsh grasses and narrow rivulets that attract strolling egrets and hungry sandpipers.
Past the wooden bridge, another canal runs alongside the river. To the right is Fairview Regional Park and its connecting path. Soon the Santa Ana's high levee trail drops down to join the canal trail, and the river view is lost. After running for half a mile under buzzing power lines, the path passes a tiny park with one picnic table, some shade trees, and a drinking fountain. Situated about four miles up from the beach, this makes a welcome rest stop.
A few yards beyond the little park, the trail climbs back to the levee top. Here is the famous all-concrete Santa Ana riverbed prominently featured in a chase scene from the movie Terminator II. You may be tempted to slip down the banks and skate, but beware: massive semi trucks frequently scream by at 80-plus miles an hour, carrying dirt out of the mouth of the river. The setting on the right riverbank at this point is heavily industrial, but at the south edge of Centennial Regional Park, lawns, trees, and a little lake deliver more appealing views. Stop at the park for a rest in the shade before continuing up the river through Santa Ana (not described in this book) or turning back.
From the mouth of the Santa Ana River on the coast, two very popular skates await: head south down the Coast Highway to Orange Avenue, where the Balboa Peninsula Trail starts, or go north to skate up South Huntington Beach to the pier (see Related Tours).
Skate from the south end of the parking lot on a rough path that connects to the river trail. Head inland at the river's outlet into the Pacific Ocean, where on most summer mornings, the beach is shrouded in coastal fog. At first, seawater and the tide fill the mouth of the river from bank to bank, the gray waters reflecting a gray sky. A brightly colored mural featuring a giant in-line skate decorates the first underpass, part of Operation Clean Slate. The concrete walls all along the trailside are surprisingly free of graffiti in this area, possibly due to such projects.
About a mile and a half up the river, a rough and seemingly endless wood-slat bridge will have beginners grasping at the rail. It's easiest to cross at high speeds. At this point the riverbed has become sandy, interspersed with strips of marsh grasses and narrow rivulets that attract strolling egrets and hungry sandpipers.
Past the wooden bridge, another canal runs alongside the river. To the right is Fairview Regional Park and its connecting path. Soon the Santa Ana's high levee trail drops down to join the canal trail, and the river view is lost. After running for half a mile under buzzing power lines, the path passes a tiny park with one picnic table, some shade trees, and a drinking fountain. Situated about four miles up from the beach, this makes a welcome rest stop.
A few yards beyond the little park, the trail climbs back to the levee top. Here is the famous all-concrete Santa Ana riverbed prominently featured in a chase scene from the movie Terminator II. You may be tempted to slip down the banks and skate, but beware: massive semi trucks frequently scream by at 80-plus miles an hour, carrying dirt out of the mouth of the river. The setting on the right riverbank at this point is heavily industrial, but at the south edge of Centennial Regional Park, lawns, trees, and a little lake deliver more appealing views. Stop at the park for a rest in the shade before continuing up the river through Santa Ana (not described in this book) or turning back.
From the mouth of the Santa Ana River on the coast, two very popular skates await: head south down the Coast Highway to Orange Avenue, where the Balboa Peninsula Trail starts, or go north to skate up South Huntington Beach to the pier (see Related Tours).
Links
- Orange County Bikeway Map - PDF Map
Related Tours
| Last Skated
Aug 1, 1995
|
Updated
Nov 12, 2003
|