The ways down to No Surf Beach are harrowing. Steep sandstone grooves with jagged edges and narrow ledges, and ominous rocks looming 50 feet below, keep most curious onlookers from attempting the trail down. To access Garbage Beach, which is a long and narrow sandy strip nestled under 80-foot-high bluffs, one has to negotiate an extremely steep and slippery trail along a broken drainage trough and then use a fixed rope for the last 10 feet. “Look at that beach, it looks awesome. How do you get down there?” is what\u2019s often overheard from visitors to Sunset Cliffs as they stop to peer over the bluff. Locals love to hear that. Because the beach is awesome, and getting down to it is a dangerous trek, which means fewer interlopers, no rules, and more freedom. It\u2019s worth it. Like New Break Beach to the south, and the pocket beaches to the north in OB, and Kellogg\u2019s Beach on the bay side, the fewer visitors who know where they are, and how to get there, gives locals exclusivity and makes these beautiful beaches a favored destination.
\nBut unfortunately for locals, the word is out. “I like the quiet and I like the privacy,” said Shelby, a millennial, who grew up on Orchard Avenue and frequents the pocket beach at the end of Santa Cruz Avenue. Last weekend, with heat and humidity soaring, the beach at Santa Cruz, and its sister beach off Bermuda Avenue, were lightly attended, which suited Shelby just fine. “Nobody owns the beach, everyone is welcome,” she said. “But be respectful. Clean up after yourself and don\u2019t be rude. These little beaches can get overrun with people. I think social media is one of the main reasons.” That same sentiment was expressed by Stephen, a La Jolla resident who has been coming to Ocean Beach for 20 years. On Sunday, he and his girlfriend were hiking through the ravine south of Garbage Beach to a secret spot below Point Loma Nazarene University that\u2019s only accessible during low tide. “I want to show people these hidden hikes and beaches, but I don\u2019t want them to end up crowded. It\u2019s a conundrum,” he said. “No Surf Beach and Garbage Beach never used to be crowded, but now, especially in the summer, the millennials have taken them over.”
\nHe also blames social media for bringing out more beachgoers. “Now everyone knows where they are and how to get down to them. Years ago, I don\u2019t remember these beaches even having names. Then they named them, and everyone found them.”
\nJumping off The Arch at Pappy\u2019s Point has been a rite of passage for locals for generations. It still is. But they have a lot of company. Last weekend, dozens of teenagers gathered to watch and film video of their friends taking the 35-foot plunge off The Arch. “I used to jump off The Arch when I was younger, but it got too crowded, and that brought out the police and people started getting tickets,” said Shelby. “Social media has exposed everything.”
\nDuring the heatwave two weeks ago, Ocean Beach resident Sarah and her three friends, who were visiting from out of town, took turns jumping off The Arch. Why take that chance of receiving an expensive ticket, or even worse, of getting hurt? “It\u2019s sick. It\u2019s an incredible adrenaline rush,” she said. “When my friends visit me, I bring them here to jump.”
\nHer friend Emily, from Indiana, said she wanted to test her boundaries. “It\u2019s about making every day an adventure,” she said. “When you jump and you\u2019re in the air, it\u2019s sweet \u2013 just remember to close your mouth before you hit the water.”
\nBut smile for the Instagram post.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ways down to No Surf Beach are harrowing. Steep sandstone grooves with jagged edges and narrow ledges, and ominous rocks looming 50 feet below, keep most curious onlookers from attempting the trail down. To access Garbage Beach, which is a long and narrow sandy strip nestled under 80-foot-high bluffs, one has to negotiate an […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":258103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Hot days, cool beaches \u2013 Locals losing their exclusive summertime spots in Point Loma and Ocean Beach","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}