Location: San Diego, California – Near La Jolla
Distance: .8 Miles Out and Back Time: 1 Hour
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation Gain: Around 300 Feet
Season: Year Round
Foot Traffic: Light
Date Hiked: Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Overview
The Ho Chi Minh Trail has become a popular and fun trail in the city of Lo Jolla that leads to Black’s Beach. The trail is short but leads along narrow ledges at times and overlooks or enters into a tiny, unique slot canyon. The “slot” portion of this hike can be bypassed by staying along the narrow edges of the trail. For those entering “The Slot”, this section can be somewhat challenging for some. Near the bottom is a dry chute area that can be a bit hard to bypass. It’s important for visitors to know that once you proceed past a certain point in the slot section, it can be difficult to climb back out, if you are unable to navigate down the dry chute. Knowing your skill level and limits and having good judgement is important here.
The last portion of the trail leads past some ledges and slippery areas where hikers should be careful. Lastly, the trail descends along a short, eroded, cliffside that usually has a rope that has been installed to help aid hikers down. This section is super short and once at the bottom, hikers will have reached Black’s Beach.
Some people may find this trail to be challenging, whereas others will blow through it and find it to be a breeze. Visitors here will almost unquestionably see at least one surfer during their visit here, who will most likely be heading down with no shoes, surfboard in hand and making quick work of the trail on the way to the beach. Again, knowing your skill and comfortability level is key to a good time here. Overall, the Ho Chi Minh Trail is a very fun, quick exploration of this unique San Diego area.
Trail Description and My Story
As my wife and I were visiting the San Diego area for a few days, we were trying to fit as much into a short period of time as possible. The Ho Chi Minh trail offered us a great opportunity to get out and do a hike while not taking up a ton of time.
After making our way down La Jolla Farms Road, we found street parking in a nice neighborhood. We crossed the street and made our way towards an obvious, small alleyway situated between two houses. Shortly thereafter, the trail opened up to the canyon below. With my wife following behind me, we made our way down as the trail descended towards the canyon. As we passed through the initial, top portion of the canyon, we began to pass through a ton of vegetation. As the trail turned left a piece of wood helped us pass over a small spring.
I was a little surprised at how thick some of the vegetation was in the section, but we were soon out of it.
From here we encountered our first real navigational choice of the hike.
Making our way into the Slot Canyon Section of the Trail
We had now reached the top of the slot canyon section and decided to gently ease our way down into it. For those who don’t want to do this, there is an obvious trail that follows along the top above the slot canyon. The trail here can be a little eroded and narrow and some may feel a little uncomfortable along this section.
Dropping into the slot canyon offers its own difficulties. We made our way down a few short scrambles and this section of the slot was rather unique and worthwhile.
However, we eventually came to a dry fall and decided we would climb back up and out of the slot and just follow the narrow trail down to the beach. The problem was that climbing back up proved to be a little more difficult than I had expected. After some laughing at ourselves and multiple attempts to climb out, we finally made our way back to the original trail.
From here we followed the rather narrow trail, for a few short minutes until the beach came into view. The trail is very eroded in this section and hugs the canyon. Some people may not like this section.
After navigating this section we arrived at a short, steep section with a rope tied to aid hikers in getting down. The large expanse of Black’s Beach was now directly in front of us and we had reached the end of our trail.
This trail isn’t overly exciting, but could absolutely cause some problems for the less experienced or less athletic. The incredibly short distance and lack of time it will take, make it a must do to check out the very unique slot canyon.
Getting to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Saigon Trailhead, 9883 La Jolla Farms Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037
Notes, Questions and Thoughts
Is this a fee area?
- No, there are no fees to park at or hike this trail.
Are dogs allowed on the Ho Chi Minh Trail?
- Dogs ARE NOT allowed from November 1-March 31 from 9 AM-4 PM and April 1-October 31 from 9 AM-6 PM. They are allowed at all other times, however, overall this is probably not the best trail for dogs. If you must take them, please pick up and properly dispose of all animal waste.
Are there restrooms at the trailhead/parking area?
- No, there are no restrooms here. Please go before you go.
Please recreate responsibly. Respect hikers and all visitors and wildlife. Help make everyone’s experience better by keeping the nature experience as authentic as possible. Leave no trace and pack out everything that you pack in. Please remember that we are visitors and stewards of these special places. Help keep these places as wild as possible while not diminishing the outdoor experience of others.
