Cliffs Above Black’s Beach Toward La Jolla

Black's Beach sits below the sandstone bluffs of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, part of a stretch of coastline that runs south toward La Jolla. The Torrey Pines Gliderport, perched atop the cliffs since the 1930s, remains one of the few spots in the country where paragliders and hang gliders launch from coastal bluffs using rising ocean air currents. The reserve protects one of only two native populations of the Torrey pine, the rarest pine species in North America. Access to Black's Beach requires descending steep, unstable cliff trails, and erosion has made several of the old paths unsafe or off-limits over the years. Scripps Pier, visible along the shoreline to the south, marks the northern edge of La Jolla and the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Photo taken in November 2011.