Local link in California Coastal trail dedicated

Signs are erected between Shell Beach and Oceano on the 1,200-mile project of the nonprofit Coastwalk organization

Dawn White

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After a brief ceremony and the installation of a small sign, the latest leg of the California Coastal Trail was dedicated Friday morning at the Dinosaur Caves Park in Shell Beach.

The stretch from Shell Beach to Oceano is the longest link of the trail in San Luis Obispo County, said Nancy Graves, the county’s Coastwalk coordinator.

The 1,200-mile trail is planned to stretch eventually from the Mexican border to Oregon.

THE CALIFORNIA COASTAL TRAIL

Once completed, it will stretch 1,200 miles along the coast from Oregon to Mexico.

Last year, the plaques were installed around Cambria’s coastline, and most recently signs were set up around Morro Bay.

The latest leg of the trail, between Shell Beach and Oceano, included the

installation of 32 small signs.

For more information, visit

www.coastwalk.com.

Recently, local of ficials worked with leaders of Coastwalk—the nonprofit group establishing the trail — to install 32 signs between Shell Beach and Oceano showing where the trail passes.

The tiny signs were put up in the past couple of days, but it’s taken years of working with state, county and city agencies to get clearance to install the signs, said Ron DeCarli, executive director of the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments.

“It’s been a little piece here and a little piece there,” DeCarli said. “But with a bunch of pieces, we’re finally connecting it.”

The trail is fairly established, with only small gaps where pedestrians would need to walk inland or along a road until the trail starts again. Work on the trail is more than halfway done, organizers said.

The small blue and white signs can be spotted at various seaside points such as near the Cliffs Hotel in Shell Beach, the pier at Pismo Beach and next to the Oceano Dunes entrance.

Earlier this month, the first signs were installed in the Morro Bay area, and last year a section of Cambria’s Fiscalini Ranch Preserve was dedicated.

Aspirations for the next steps locally include working to get permission to build a trail in the Irish Hills area, east of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, Graves said.

That possibility is one of the most exciting aspects of building the trail, she said.

For now, both local officials and those with Coastwalk say they are elated to include some of the South County’s most picturesque places as part of the trail.

“We’re celebrating the dedication of one of the most beautiful parts of the trail along the (state’s) entire coastline,” Graves said.