Moonlight State Beach to Beacon's Beach | CA: Southern California ...

Moonlight State Beach to Beacon's Beach | CA: Southern California ...
The hike from Moonlight State Beach to Beacon’s Beach follows a 1.4-mile
stretch of bluff-backed coastline. The beach strand lies between
Encinitas ...

Preview: The hike from Moonlight State Beach to Beacon’s Beach follows a 1.4-mile stretch of bluff-backed coastline. The beach strand lies between Encinitas Boulevard and Leucadia Boulevard in the town Leucadia, part of the city of Encinitas. Moonlight State Beach is a broad, crescent-shaped cove flanked with sandstone cliffs. Cottonwood Creek drains into the ocean through the sandy beach. It is a popular, easily accessible swimming, surfing, and picnicking beach with a blufftop overlook and benches. Beacon’s Beach (formerly known as Leucadia State Beach) is a narrow, bluff-backed beach and a popular area for surfing and skin diving. A stairway and ramp zigzag down the eroding 80-foot cliffs to the beach strand below a viewing platform. Between these two beaches is Seaside Gardens County Park, locally called Stone Steps Beach, and Encinitas Beach, a secluded beach without direct access. Stone Steps Beach is a narrow, cobble beach reached from a long, partially stone stairway of 97 steps, dropping 80vfeet down the eroding sandstone cliffs from Neptune Avenue. Encinitas Beach is accessed by either walking south from Beacon's Beach or north from Stone Steps Beach.