• A short hike to Annie’s Canyon next to the San Elijo Lagoon. The recently restored Annie’s Canyon is a short hike of a slot canyon type of geography that is directly south of the San Elijo Lagoon. This was previously defaced with large amounts of graffiti and has been recently restored to it’s natural beauty.
• The beautiful slot canyon of “Annie’s Canyon Trail” in San Elijo Lagoon, Solana Beach (North San Diego), California. Whoever thought that a gorgeous, easy to hike slot canyon existed just a fraction of a mile away from California’s Interstate 5 freeway, less than a mile from the beach?

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A short hike to Annie’s Canyon next to the San Elijo Lagoon.

The recently restored Annie’s Canyon is a short hike of a slot canyon type of geography that is directly south of the San Elijo Lagoon. This was previously defaced with large amounts of graffiti and has been recently restored to it’s natural beauty.

(Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) Beautiful formations at the top of the trial. Jessica Johnson, founder of Hidden San Diego, at Annie’s Canyon Trail with her dog Sage.

We read about the newly re-opened Annie’s Canyon area via a Facebook post that just happened to float across our feed, and thought we’d make a quick trip up to check it out because the weather was absolutely beautiful and what we like to call “brochure weather”. In looking up the area on Google Maps we didn’t see anything that was actually labeled as Annie’s Canyon. Come to find out that it’s actually referred to as the Mushroom Caves in Solana Beach on Google maps. We selected to approach from the Solana Hills trail head.

The start of the trail head is not too bad, but there are a couple of moderately steep hills with some loose gravel so you will want decent shoes and to be careful. The trail follows the fence line that separates the I-5 interstate and you get a great view of the San Elijo lagoon marine preserve as well as the mountains in the back ground. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the first split in the trail. We opted to go left as this was a shaded route and Brick didn’t bring his hat.

After 3-4 minutes of walking the trail turns in to an impressively well maintained surface that is lined with wood chips. These provide a really great walking surface that doesn’t slip hardly at all when you walk on it. It’s obvious that a lot of money, time and effort were put in to this area to bring it back to it’s current state after it was severely vandalized for years.

You will arrive at a junction on the trail that will let you decide between a less strenuous or a more strenuous trail. The harder trail is one way, as it is a slot canyon and there is no room for people to pass by each other as you can see in the following pictures of Annie’s Canyon.

While up until now the hike was pretty easy and fairly short, about 0.6 miles to this point, this is where it gets cozy. The length of the canyon from bottom to the top isn’t all that long, less than 100 yards and you can easily make it all the way up in 3-5 minutes. However for those of us that aren’t fond of tight closed in spaces it can generate a little anxiety.

After a short distance up Annie’s Canyon you will come to a shallow cave that you can stop in, sit down and just enjoy the view. There are sitting spaces that appear to be natural to the cave but also somehow seem a little too conveniently placed and created to be completely natural. I think that they may have been part of the restoration. As you can see on the cave walls some of the previous vandalism was left as a reminder.

There also are climbing holes that have been etched in to the face of the cliffs as you can see above. As you continue your ascent up the narrow and winding trail shortly after leaving the small cave you are presented with the following sign that just doesn’t inspire all that much confidence at this point while your’e in Annie’s Canyon.

From this sign you’re only 1-2 minutes from the end of the canyon. All in all it is a really short canyon to hike through. But there is just so much natural beauty compressed in to such a small space it’s truly impressive.

Once you reach the ladder you are at the end of Annie’s Canyon. You then pop out on the summit with a great view of the San Elijo lagoon as well as the Pacific Ocean in the distance off to the west. Seaside State Beach is just a thin sliver of sand in the distance where it yields to the vast Pacific only a few yards away.

There is a small observation area at the top of Annie’s Canyon but there are no benches or tables to sit at. It’s a great spot to just stay and enjoy the view and maybe a snack while you feel to cool breeze and take in the awe inspiring beauty of the surrounding habitat.

The way down is much easier than the way up was, and it’s much faster as well. As you head back down to the main trail you will see one of the many signs along the trail that were commissioned from grade schoolers to advise people to stay on the trail and watch out for the odd snake or two that may be around as they do live in this area. We didn’t see any snakes on the trail but this is their natural habitat and you do need to respect that.

There are a set of switchbacks on the way down to help with the grade, they are well maintained but still present a little bit of loose gravel, so it’s best not to get going too fast and just take it slow and steady.

From the bottom of the switchbacks it was about a 20 minute walk back to the parking area, up and down the couple of hills with the same loose gravel that we crossed on the way in. In total the round trip hike was under 2 miles and was great for a quick and fun hike if you don’t have the time to dedicate half a day to making a hike. While there are other trail heads that will connect to this trail system we found that the Solana Hills trailhead was by far the closest to Annie’s Canyon and provided access to the slot canyon in only about 20 minutes of walking.

If you love exploring the outdoor treasures that Southern California has to offer check out our post on the scenic drive we took down state highway 74, or our day trip out to Potrero CA. Also if you want to keep up with us and our travels you can click the links to the right to Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or if you’re more the email type feel free to subscribe to our mailing list for updates when we publish a new blog post. See ya next time.

Annie’s Canyon is a short hike in Solana Beach, part of San Diego County, with some fun scrambling in a small sandstone canyon. It was off limits for a long time and had become a graffiti-ridden location until some residents took up the cause to make it beautiful again. The trail opened a few years ago, and it still looks much better than I anticipated it looking. Plus, it is a great short hike that older kids would enjoy as well; here is all the information.

Details

• 1.5 miles round trip, only .25 in the canyon
• 100 feet of elevation gain
• This information is from my visit in 2018

Getting There

From San Diego, you will take the 5 Freeway North and get off on exit 37 (Lomas Santa Fe Dr). Turn left and then proceed to N Rios Ave, where you will turn right. The trailhead is right at the end of the street, and you can park on the street (observe any posted signs).

The Trail

After parking in the small cul-de-sac, you will head to the end and see a trail that goes off to the right.

This trail has numerous signs pointing you to Annie’s Canyon, which is about a half mile away.

The trail is beautiful as it goes along the ecological preserve and has some wetlands to look over.

There are multiple benches you can take a break at while on the hike as well, but it is mostly flat in this section.

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Eventually, you will reach a split in the trail with one way heading up to the viewpoint and the other heading into Annie’s Canyon.

This area forms a small loop, so you will end at the top of the viewpoint when you come out of the canyon.

The canyon starts wide, but after the first bend, it begins to narrow quickly.

The path is pretty easy to follow, as there are signs that mark the places you are not supposed to go.

On the trail, you will be squeezing along the rocks and using your hands to help get yourself to the next area. It is not that difficult, but it does take a little time.

On one of the uphill portions, there is a split that takes you to a small cave and shows you what the area looked like before it got cleaned up.

Continuing on, you will make it to the metal stairs that will take you the rest of the way out of the canyon.

When you get out and are at the viewpoint, you will have an excellent view back down where you just came up.

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The terrain here reminds me a lot of Torrey Pines with the rough eroding stone making up the hillside.

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This is also a great view out over the preserve and all the way to the ocean in the distance.

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From here, you will head down the switchbacks to where you headed onto the Annie’s Canyon trail and can make your way back to where you started the hike.

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While this hike doesn’t take very long, it is still an impressive escape in the city and a fun family hike with older kids. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments.