April 18th | 9am - 12pm
Meet at the Cave Store - 1325 Coast Blvd.
Join Friends of Coast Walk & the Bishop’s Trail Squad for an all ages community event.
No experience needed. Wear comfortable work clothing, strudy shoes, a hat and don’t forget sunscreen!
Use the link below to sign up, or email Brenda at befake@aol.com with any questions.
TRAIL NEWS
Keep up to date with the local happenings on the Coast Walk Trail. Browse articles and stay in the know of upcoming events, projects and local happenings, hosted by Friends of Coast Walk Trail.
View this profile on InstagramFriends of Coast Walk Trail (@friends_of_coast_walk_trail) • Instagram photos and videos
This year the Friends of Coast Walk Trail was honored to be selected as a Marshall by the La Jolla Christmas and Holiday Festival Foundation. It was a hoot and half to participate, joined by Bishops Trail Squad, the La Jolla Hiking and Biking Clubs with our 2024 Weeder of Year- Tim Gonzalez and Future Weeders of La Jolla, sisters Felicity Duerig & Hope Duerig. Very surreal to ride the parade route and see so many friends of and supporters of the trail. Lucky us, we all live in this amazing community.
Beautiful paintings of the Coast Walk Trail provided by La Jolla locals show not only the beauty of the trail, but the importance of its presence to the community.
Artwork provided by a local to the La Jolla area. | Photo courtesy of Yulia.
Artwork by Joi Carle
Event photography by Provisions Media
La Jolla Garden Club co-president Elizabeth Eade, left, presents a donation to Brenda Fake of Friends of Coast Walk Trail May 20. Photo provided by lajolla.ca
Photo Provided by lajolla.ca
Photo Provided by lajolla.ca
Photo Provided By: J.DIXX PHOTOGRAPHY
The La Jolla Hiking Group gathers after its Lunar New Year Hike. (Provided by La Jolla Hiking Group)
“Bridging community and conservation, dozens came together on the lawns at Wisteria Cottage in La Jolla Sept 25 for “Cocktails Off Coast Walk,” the annual fundraiser for the nonprofit Friends of Coast Walk Trail, which maintains and preserves the historic trail.”
This generous donation awarded during the La Jolla Garden Club’s annual Spring Scholarship Luncheon recognized Friends of Coast Walk Trail’s commitment to native plant management. The plants along the trail are not a random selection, but instead are curated from a report obtained by the California Native Plant Society.
In late February, the Coast Walk Trail Walking Bridge will be closed around three weeks as it undergoes maintenance and repairs. The historic bridge was first constructed in 1920 and has not been repaired since the 1990s. To date, Friends has raised another $30,000 in addition to the county grant for the project; another $25,000 is needed to complete the repairs and “close the gap,” Fake said. To contribute, visit friendsofcoastwalk.org/donate.
Around 50 volunteers pulled together on April 6th to hold a “weed pulling party” to clear Coast Walk Trail of invasive weeds and plants. FOCWT’s founder, Brenda Fake estimated nearly two tons (84 tarps of weeds) were removed from the path.
Hosted at the Estancia La Jollla Hotel and Spa, REAL SIMPLE editors, readers and fans met up in October 2023 to spend a weekend in La Jolla, California. In this article, 12 highlights of the weekend were mentioned; one being an early morning historic walk along our beautiful trail! Read the full article linked below to discover their most memorable moment of the walk.
On February 10th, the first day of the new year, a 75 person strong La Jolla hiking group walked the trail to share dim sum, cookies and wishes for the coming year. The La Jolla hiking group started in 2016 with a few neighbors who set out to walk to village. Today, the group has almost 100 members and takes more than 100 hikes per year, spanning 5-6 miles. Beyond the Lunar New Year, the La Jolla Hiking Group plans to continue its tradition of long walks.
A Legacy Wall honoring donors to Friends of Coast Walk Trail has been started near the trailhead of Coast Boulevard. The first round of plaques have been created and installed, but more are available for those who donate to the group. Brenda Fake, Friends of Coast Walk Trail President stated that “Our goal this year is to raise $50,000 to install, establish, and maintain new native vegetation over the next three years.
Meredith Baratz, Brenda Fake, Jana Farella, Shannon Smith, and Meg Davis.
Orchid Award | San Diego Architectural Foundation
The Jewel Award for preservation went to the FOCWT for its “tireless and innovative work to rejuvenate this La Jolla icon for the enjoyment of residents and visitors alike,” according to the Historical Society. FOCWT has planted 2,500 native plants to mitigate soil erosion in the past 10 years, along with trail cleanups, 3 trail resurfacing projects, and replacement of post-and-chain barriers, and more.
“The history of La Jolla… starts with the Kumeyaay and acknowledging the Kumeyaay was the intent of this” - Brenda Fake, FOCWT President. A private ceremony was held Sept. 26, 2023 to unveil and bless the recently installed plaque, honoring the Kumeyaay tribe.
Chosen from over 80 nominations in the categories of architecture, landscape architecture, historic preservation, and interior design, the historic trail won an Orchid award for landscape architecture at the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s annual awards ceremony on October 6th.
As summarized in an article written by Elisabeth Frausto, FOCWT’s president set out a list of improvement projects for the year during a meeting with the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board in early 2022. For the past 12 years, the nonprofit organization has used around $200,000 in privately donated funds, while collaborating with local boards within the city of San Diego in order to implement repairs along the half-mile trail.
The Vernacular Architecture Forum is an organization that recognizes the appreciation and preservation of vernacular structures, which as described by the La Jolla Community Planning Association’s President, Diane Kane, are “buildings[s] without the benefit of architects - so most of the natural-built environment.” FOCWT was voted by the LJCPA board to send an endorsement to be nominated for the Vernacular Architecture Forum Advocacy Award for the organization’s continuous efforts to preserve the natural beauty of the trail.
In an article by Ashley Machin-Solomon, FOCWT’s efforts to plant seven new Torrey pine trees along the entrance of the trail were highlighted as one of the large projects for 2021. The trees serve an even deeper meaning to the community, as a majority of them were donated in remembrance of respected members of the La Jolla community.
Photo by Thomas Melville
After given a tour of the 0.6 mile trail, Dave Schwab featured FOCWT in an extensive article, which detailed the formation, key focus and top projects of the organization. Notable facts on the 9,000 year old history of the trail is highlighted throughout the article, stressing the importance of the preservation of the trail, which is solely provided by local fundraising. Throughout the 13 years of its services, FOCWT has maintained, improved and even realigned the trail in its entirety and since created an interactive and informative History Hike, put on many successful fundraisers and events all while providing countless repairs and restoration work to the trail.
