Beaches in California - includes photo's of many CA beaches & camping guide

[kvp]

You have to request those camp sites several months in advance. There's also a state park on the beach in Cardiff. The Cardiff site has some sites with hookups while the Carlsbad site does not.

I like the idea of having a camp site in Carlsbad and a timeshare across the street at the same time!

Kathy

[4ARedOctober]

Pollution survey finds California beaches cleaner - Los Angeles Times

From the Los Angeles Times
Pollution survey finds California beaches cleaner
Dry weather helps, but storm water runoff is still a problem. Five of the 10 worst areas are in Los Angeles County, which for the third straight year has California's most bacteria-laden seawater.
By Susannah Rosenblatt
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

11:20 AM PDT, May 21, 2008

Waters off California's coast are cleaner -- and safer for swimmers and surfers -- in dry weather than they've been in years, according to a new environmental report released this morning.

But while water quality is improving overall statewide, Los Angeles County is home to the most bacteria-laden seawater in California for the third straight year. Half of the 10 foulest shorelines in the state are in Los Angeles County, with the dirtiest water at Avalon Harbor Beach on Santa Catalina Island.

Other "beach bummers" with the worst water quality were the waters at Santa Monica Pier, Poche Beach and North Beach Doheny in South Orange County, Marie Canyon at Puerco Beach in Malibu, Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro and various locations in Long Beach.

Drier-than-average weather helped keep most ocean waters cleaner; in rainy conditions, however, more than half of Southern California beaches tested fair to poor for traces of fecal bacteria.

"For storm water pollution, we're not doing a good job at all," said Mark Gold, president of the Santa Monica-based nonprofit Heal the Bay, which compiles the report. "The beaches are just as polluted today during rainstorms as they were 15 years ago."

Runoff can contain trash, toxic heavy metals, pesticides, fertilizer, petroleum byproducts, animal waste and human sewage.

"It's not surprising -- it's just frustrating," Gold said. "We've had so much progress in so many other, different areas of coastal protection [yet] our beaches still look like landfills after every rain."

Heal the Bay's annual beach report card tests more than 500 locations on the California coast for daily and weekly fecal bacteria pollution levels. Letter grades from A to F indicate the risk of health effects like stomach flu, ear infections and rashes from swimming in contaminated water. Ocean water is analyzed for total coliform, fecal coliform -- also known as E. coli -- and enterococcus; total coliform can come from soil, plants, animals and humans, and the other two types are found in bird and mammal droppings.

This year, 87% of beaches statewide and in the Southland received A or B grades during dry weather; only 71% of beaches in Los Angeles County alone scored that high. Santa Monica Bay, long the subject of environmental and government scrutiny for pollution problems, is cleaner, Gold said. At the same time, Long Beach, at the terminus of the Los Angeles River, has developed as a new trouble spot, with particularly dirty water two years running.

"They're stuck sort of at the proverbial end of the pipe," Gold said.

"We still have work to do," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. "The good news is most of Los Angeles County beaches are in great shape the vast majority of the time."

One factor in Los Angeles County's water testing dirtier than the rest of the state's is its new technique of measuring samples directly in front of flowing storm drains and creeks; other jurisdictions tend to collect water samples from dozens of yards away, where the contamination is less concentrated. Gold argues that samples gathered right at the pollution source provide more accurate data, and Heal the Bay is pushing for all water to be collected that way.

The full report card, with county-by-county grades, can be found at Heal the Bay | Beach Report Card | Home.

[4ARedOctober]

Get out: Secrets to nabbing a fire pit


June 30th, 2008, 5:14 pm

posted by Laylan Connelly

Get out: Secrets to nabbing a fire pit - Beach Blog - OCRegister.com

We all sat hypnotized, our eyes gazing into the jumping fire, squinting to block out the stinging smoke that drifted our way as the breeze switched directions.

The air was filled with the smell of firewood, which crackled once in a while just to remind us it was still alive.

And when there was a lull in the smack-talking among family members, or the endlessly embarrassing stories from childhood, we’d just sit there, in a trance.

A few months back, we lit up a bonfire at a campsite at Doheny State Beach during a family barbeque. My little bro’ Jaered hooked up the grub, taking wire hangers we had straighten earlier in the day and sticking gooey marshmallows onto the tip, crisping the white puffs on the outside just enough to call it burned, then squeezing it between two graham crackers and a chunk of chocolate for the perfect S’more.

While I was with my family on this latest bonfire adventure, it’s also a great way to spend a romantic evening with a loved one, cuddled up under a blanket and the stars. (And it’s a pretty cheap date too, fellas!)

Regardless of the occasion, lighting up the fire rings at the beach is one of those annual rituals that you have to do at least once a year, just as a reminder of how lucky you are to live here.

Since traveling seems to be not on many people’s itinerary this year because of wallet-crunching gas prices, this is a great way to feel far away from home while spending time with family and friends.

Sure, your clothes might stink like smoke in the morning… but it’s totally worth it.


If you’re planning on grabbing a fire ring for the Fourth of July, plan on getting there early because most are taken by early morning hours. Fire rings at Newport and Doheny are usually nabbed by about 6 a.m. And on any given busy Saturday, most are claimed by 11 a.m. I would suggest setting something up on a nice weekday night, just to avoid the crazy crowds.
But if you are headed down for the busy holiday weekend, Huntington State Beach Marine Safety Officer Ryan Gates said beachgoers shouldn’t leave their parking spot to get wood (so bring extra bundles) or ice during busy beach days, since lots fill up and they can’t let people back in. He notes there are no saving spaces with things like chairs or bikes. They re-open lots when at least 100 spaces become available.

Also, it’s fire pit etiquette to find a different pit if someone’s belongings have been set around it, like chairs or towels. Gates said many fights start like this, and it’s best to just go find a different spot.

And if you can’t find a spot, don’t try to make a fire in the sand or spark up wood in a barbeque: fines can be up to $1,000.

Here are some places you can nab a fire ring:

Bolsa Chica: 182 fire rings.
Huntington State Beach: 180 fire rings.
Huntington City Beach: A few hundred fire pits on a 3/4 mile stretch between Beach and First Street.
Newport Beach: About 50 fire pits in Balboa and Corona del Mar.
Laguna Beach: County-run Aliso Beach has about a dozen fire rings.
Doheny State Beach: About 35 or so spots, and they are usually gone within a half hour of the park opening.
San Clemente City Beach: Four rings on the south side of the pier, fvie on the north side, stretching from North Beach to T-Street.
San Clemente State Beach: One fire ring at Riviera Beach, at tower 4


What to bring:

blankets or sweaters (can get chilly at night)
beach chair to sit on
cooler full of booze, um, I mean soda.
a friend who plays the guitar
Food: Easiest is good ol’ fashion hot dogs to cook over the fire. But last time, we got creative and brought prepared chicken skewers made with green peppers, onions and mushrooms(we brought a separate grill to put on the barbeque), and chicken to cook for tacos (bag of tortillas and homemade guacamole, kept in cooler).

[4ARedOctober]

Heal the Bay California Beach Report Card. This is continually updated. Good info on clean and polluted beaches.

Heal the Bay | Beach Report Card

[4ARedOctober]

Beach report: O.C. has nation’s most “5-star” beaches

July 29th, 2009, 11:33 am ·

posted by Pat Brennan, green living, environment editor


Doheny State Beach was one of the state’s 10 most contaminated even as other Orange County beaches were among the cleanest in a new report from a national environmental group.

“Testing the Waters 2009,” by the Natural Resources Defense Council, found that Doheny State Beach violated the state’s bacterial standards as much as 49 percent of the time in 2008 at one of the sampling sites.

But Orange County had the nation’s highest number of 5-star beaches in the report’s rating system, which considered health standard violations, frequency of water sampling, and how promptly beachgoers were informed of pollution. Main Beach and Blue Lagoon in Laguna Beach, along with Bolsa Chica State Beach, were among the nine in Orange County to receive five stars.

“If you look at all the California data, Orange County fares very well given the number of beaches,” said Leila Monroe, an oceans policy analyst for the group in San Francisco.

Other beach water-quality reports, including those from the Orange County Health Care Agency, have shown a general trend toward cleaner beaches in recent years in Orange County, and fewer closures caused by sewage spills.

The Natural Resources Defense Council report also compares California counties by the number of times ocean water samples violated state health standards in 2008. Orange County ranked fifth at 9 percent, tied with Alameda and Santa Barbara; topping the list was Los Angeles County at 20 percent and San Francisco at 13 percent.

Nationwide, the report found the fourth highest number of beach closings and advisories, more than 20,000, in its 19-year history. It was the fourth year in a row that the number passed 20,000 in the report that covers ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches.

The report also says that ocean-water contamination can make beachgoers sick, and that climate change is expected to make beach water quality worse, especially by increasing rainfall and causing more sewer overflows in the Great Lakes and Northeast. The report mentions stormwater runoff as a major cause of beach pollution.

“The impacts (of climate change) are expected to occur across the board,” Monroe said. “It’s definitely not limited to the east coast or the Great Lakes. Larger, more frequent and more intense rainstorms, droughts, warming water — all those things together can enhance the number of disease-causing pathogens in beach water.”

The report brought general agreement from the Orange County Health Care Agency.

“Overall, it shows Orange County beaches continue to improve,” said program manager Larry Honeybourne. “That’s good news for us.”

Chronic contamination has been a problem for years at Doheny, and scientists are still investigating likely causes. Much of the bacterial contamination could be coming from San Juan Creek, which empties into the ocean at Doheny.

Before swimming at Doheny or other beaches, Honeybourne urges Orange County residents to phone the beach water-quality hotline at 714-433-6400 or check the agency’s web site.

(Waders cross San Juan Creek at Doheny State Beach in Register photo by Sam Gangwer.)

Beach report: O.C. has nation’s most “5-star” beaches - Green OC : The Orange County Register