Carmel Beach
Trail Review
We parked a little more than a mile away from the south end of Carmel Beach and biked the rest of the way. At the beach, we strolled the entire length of the beach without any hurries.
The parking along Carmel Beach can be stressful, so I rather enjoyed the way we experienced Carmel Beach. There was no official bike parking, at least from what we could see. We instead locked our bikes together against a waist-height metal water pipe, and that seemed to work just okay for our purposes.
The road we cycled had a bit of elevation gain, but it was so short that it wasn’t bad at all. The motorists we shared the road with were gracious, and we did not feel in danger at any point of our ride.
Carmel Beach was very pretty with soft, bright-white sand and tropical-looking waters. There were a whole lot of people at the beach, but they were concentrated near the parking lot—when we got to the opposite ends of the beach, there were only a few people around.
What I Learned
On the way back to the north end of the beach, Cassie spotted a cormorant bird that was tumbling in the waves. It seemed to lack the energy to escape the waves, so she waited for the bird to be washed ashore. She then scooped up the sand around the bird to carry it above the surf line. After she let it sit there, another person joined us as we discussed how best to help this bird that seemed to have no energy to get up. We hoped that the bird was just tired from being trapped in the waves and not wanting the bird to get stuck in the waves if a rogue wave were to hit it again. The other person moved the bird next to a bunch of seaweed that had washed ashore. We hoped that the seaweed could protect the bird and help it dry out. At this point, we were not sure how to help the bird further, so we headed back. We hope that this bird was able to dry out and gather its energy—enough so that it could thrive once again.
What Happened?
1.2 miles, 7 mins, 118 ft of ascent
2.5 miles, 1 hr 5 mins, 9 ft of ascent
1.3 miles, 8 mins, 83 ft of ascent
Wanting to experience Carmel Beach, but wanting to avoid the traffic around the parking lot, we decided to park in a neighborhood and bike to the beach instead. This plan worked out well as we were able to easily find parking and bike to the beach. The roads that led us to the beach lacked bike lanes, but traffic moved so slowly that we did not feel out of place sharing the road with cars.
When we arrived, we parked the bikes and headed to the beach. We walked to the south-most end of the beach, then walked to the north-most end. While strolling, we joked about silly ideas and people-watched. At the north-most end, we scampered up a few rocks where we were able to get a grand view of the beach.
On the way back down to our bikes, we ran into the cormorant and Cassie helped the bird as best as we could. We then walked back to the bikes, washed our feet at a public fountain, and cycled back to our car.
Afterwards, we drove into town to shop—we found a cute light sweater for Cassie—and to get some yummy drinks. We highly recommend Carmel Valley Coffee Roasting Co, where Cassie enjoyed a Banana Matcha Tea, while I gulped down a cold chai tea. Perfect fuel for our car ride back home.
