Aliso Peak trail is a short 3 miles round trip trail in Southern California in the city of Aliso. The peak sits right by the coast and provides an incredible view on the beach down below. The difficulty of this trail is quite easy, but there are some steep portion of the trail that go up and down on gravels. Thus extra caution is advised.
To get to Aliso Peak, there are 2 starting points. The first starting point is to go from Aliso Summit trail head, but that trail head was closed when we went there for some reason. The second trail head is closer to the peak and starts from Sea View Park. The Sea View Park is right by the gated community of Aliso Sur. make sure you don't approach the gate since you are not a resident there. We parked our car on the curb side right by the park. When we got off the car, we could already see a gorgeous view of the canyon down below.
The trail starts on the side of the gate of the gate community. There is a sandy trail that forks to the right and that is the starting point. Along the trail, there are several picnic tables on the side for people to enjoy the day. Upon approaching the picnic table, the easy part of the trail ends here and now the trail becomes narrow and goes downwards. Be very careful here since it is a bit steep. Once we got down to the bottom of this down hill section, we kind of got into the gated community, but of course we don't plan to enter the community.
The trail continues along the side of the community and goes towards the beach. The trail is actually wide here because it needs to allow trucks to go on this trail as well. So be aware of any incoming vehicles. On this section of the trail, we could see the Aliso Peak down below!
Once we got the the bottom of the peak, the ascend beings. The ascent of this trail is just a small part of this trail. It was not difficult at all. We got to the top right away and the view was breathtaking. We could see the entire coastline and the Laguna Beach. Since it is early morning just 30 minutes after sun rise, the color is beautifully golden along the ridge. There is also conveniently a bench at the top for people to sit and enjoy the view.
Looking back at where the trail started, we could see the community built on top of the hill. It was really a beautiful view from the peak. We could also see the nicely built golf course down below in the canyon. That is actually a very well built golf course to allow players to enjoy golf in the shade.
Overall, this was a great hiking experience since it was our first time hiking in Southern California. The sun was not as glaring as what we expected and we would definitely try a longer trail next time.
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