Abalone Cove Trail — Attraction in Rancho Palos Verdes

We explored this trail with our three year old son for the first time today and we enjoyed our hike.

This trail is fairly easy with running shoes if you don’t mind a few inclines here and there, some rocky bits, and some narrow pathways down to the water where they recommend people wear masks, because social distancing isn’t always possible when passing others on a small part of the hike. The steep parts aren’t scary or treacherous if you’re holding your child’s hand and the path is pretty wide in most parts generally.

If you’re just heading straight down to the water and back from the parking lot, this is a very fast hike, but we made a longer jaunt out of it by hiking up a different part of the trail on the same hill so we didn’t retrace our steps. We saw multiple lizards, birds, squirrels, butterflies and even a huge pod of dolphins out in the water by one of the lookout sections on top of the hill. Our son loved seeing all of the wildlife.

The tide pools portion of the cove was closed due to falling rocks as others have mentioned. Hopefully they’ll be able to open this part up again in the future so we can check it out another time. I’d recommend bringing water shoes and swimming gear if you’re planning to swim or play in the water at the bottom of the hill. It’s really rocky and not very sandy so Tevas or something more substantial than a flip flop is probably best. All in all it was a nice family outing! Our three year old asked to be carried a few times, but overall he was a champ...

I can't tell you how frustrating my experience was at this park today. Get ready to pay crazy exoberant park fees (hourly rate) and 15 minute wait to leave on your dime. I came here with a group in two cars. They had the gate open to park & moments after me closed the gate and wouldn't let the car behind me in. Then made them wait for 30 minute until half of the lot empties! Ludicrous idea. Such a tragic hazard as everyone wants to get in and caught waiting on a major highway. There were plenty of spots! So I sit and wait over 30 minutes for my friend to get in while I'm paying for my waiting time in the car. The park service people are not the friendly type and seriously could care less about you and your experience. Not a spirit in them unfortunately. Dead voice like they just woke up. Super bored, no customer service. I can't believe they are even hired to work here! Not...

Beautiful beach/bluff hike. There are 2 "beaches", which during low tide are sandy, otherwise they are rocky; you have to hike down to get to them. There are great tide pools to explore during low tide also. There is parking (you have to pay) and restrooms available at the parking lot. There is a porta-potty located at each beach. Note, the parking lot doesn't open early so double check times before heading out as there is really no other parking available. The park also has a few picnic tables available. They have been doing a lot of maintenance in the area, clearing brush and trees, the result is more ocean views, but you also now have more dust and less "coziness"...