After the cookie party on Saturday, I wanted to go hiking for a little bit. Since I drove so far down, I wanted to accomplish as much as I could. & I have always heard hiking in San Diego is pretty so I have been wanting to check it out.
With the change in daylight savings, the sun sets before 5pm now and everything outdoorsy closes earlier. I couldn’t find street parking along the beach so I had to pay for parking. By the time I got to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserves, it was already 3:45pm. That left about an hour to hike and explore… and $12 parking fee. Since I do not come down here often, I thought carpe diem. I paid to park at the visitor center.
I got on the Beach Trail by 3:50pm. This trail is very direct since the paths are made very clear. The beach trail lead me to the Red Butte formation, part of the Razor Point Trail, and Yucca Point. I just followed paths that led me to viewpoints so I am not actually sure if I made it to the Razor Point or Yucca Point, but looking back at the map I think it was Yucca Point and I didn’t stay on Razor Point Trail very long. I had a nice view of Razor Point though.
Continuing towards the beach, you come across many more small steps here and there. 
You take metal stairs down to the beach. Once you get down to Torrey Pines State Beach, it is just the water, an open sand, some big rocks, and the Flat Rock. Eventually, I got to the beach around 4:20pm. The Flat Rock is exactly what it sounds like… a gigantic, big, flat rock. There’s a small pool of water in the middle on top. Interesting texture from top view. It was nice to stay up there and watch the sunset. Hiking gives you a lot of time to reflect and just enjoy the environment around you. I feel like when I hike, I am always in a rush to finish, but when I am alone, I take the time to appreciate the final destination, the view, the breeze, the tranquility, the nature around me.
This trail was very populated, but it is nice to hike along the beach the whole time with a view of the ocean and nature.
I am a little disappointed I did not have enough time to check out the Broken Hill Overlook. If you cannot tell by now, I love views/ overlooks/ inspiration points. I noticed a lot of people running the trail and since I was short on time, I decided to jog the way back. I went the exact same way back to make sure I did not get lost. I did make a few stops though to take pictures and enjoy the end of the sunset.
Since this was a solo mission… be warned there a lot of selfies below.
