Western Railroad Discussion > Surf's Up Dude! Let's go to Trestles!

Trestles is located at the mouth of San Mateo Creek, just south of the City of San Clemente, California. It is part of San Onofre State Beach. Trestles gets its name from a series of railroad trestles that span the marsh and wetlands at the mouth of San Mateo Creek. Trestles consists of, from north to south, Upper Trestles ("Uppers"), Middle Trestles ("Middles"), and Lower Trestles ("Lowers"). These are known widely to those in the Surfing Community both here in California and throughout the world. The best surf conditions of the three locations is at Lower Trestles.

From the ocean side of the tracks, one can see trains stopping at the San Clemente Station (near the Pier) - to the north, and to the south, well past the Reactors at the San Onofre Power Plant. It is a GREAT location, and I am anxious to return there.

On Monday, CimaScrambler (Kit) and I went in search of UP Local "LOA32", running through Anaheim on Santa Ana Street at Lemon, and planned to spend the balance of the day at Trestles, shooting Amtrak "Surfliners" and Metrolink Commuter Trains. Here is the last train that we could shoot, without having flash gear of the equivalent used by the late O. Winston Link.

As always, thank you for looking!

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

Bummer dude, I thought you were going to post some shots of the bikiniage down there.

Nice train photo though.

That is a sweet shot Bob!

Old Bob up in Lost Wages

Outstanding photo, Bob! I'm with the other John, where are the surfer girls?

John

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Californ-i-a
You'd seem 'em wearing their baggies
Huarachi sandals too
A bushy bushy blonde hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A.

You'd catch 'em surfin' at Del Mar
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
Ventura County line
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
Santa Cruz and Trestles
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
Australia's Narrabeen
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
All over Manhattan
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
And down Doheny way
(Inside outside)
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

We'll all be planning out a route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surf-ari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

Haggerty's and Swami's
(Inside outside U.S.A)
Pacific Palisades
(Inside outside U.S.A)
San Onofre and Sunset
(Inside outside U.S.A)
Redondo Beach L.A.
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
All over La Jolla
(Inside outside U.S.A.)
At Waimea Bay
(Inside outside)

Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys

Beautiful shot, Bob. It's hard to believe that song is over 45 years old, but it sure made all those places popular.-BMT

Hello Bob

A very nice photo indeed.

What really grabbed my attention with this photo, was the fact that you chose to frame your photo.
The complementary colors you chose for your "Frame" really enhance an already nice photo.

In my experiments with photoshop, I am going to have to try framing up my photos like many T.O. members do here in this forum.

Thanks for posting Bob.

RosevilleBill
Longmont, CO.

Some of us are showing our age here. In the mid-50s, it was a regular adventure to leave our homes in Claremont with surfboards tied to the roof of my dad's Pontiac station wagon and head for Santa Ana Canyon. From there, it was a long drive through citrus orchards to tiny Tustin and then on to the coast highway. We'd stay in the trestles area until dark and then stagger home with whatever energy we had left. I body surfed and my friends rode boards. That was half of a century ago, dudes!

Thanks for the great image.

ATSF100WEST Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One other thing I failed to mention, is that the
> creosote-coated WOOD trestles are living on
> borrowed time. The one in my above image was
> damaged by arsonists, has had some bents replaced,
> and these were set on concrete pads with heavy
> steel "movement isolation" components. This
> section of old trestle already adjoins what it
> will likely be replaced with - the ubiquitous
> concrete variety.

The Trestle is currently made up of three sections, the Approaches are wood and the middle is Concrete. The middle section was washed out during the 1998 El Nino as I recall and replaced with the current Concrete Structure. The 500 foot Wooden Segment at the West (north) end of the bridge was set to start replacement this past summer, however Schwarzenegger saw to it that a decrepit 100 year old wooden bridge which is ready to fall apart didn't have funding for replacement. SDNR is looking for alternate funding methods and last I heard was hoping to start this Spring now. The 100 foot wooden segment at the East (south) end of the bridge will remain in place for the time being.


frcanyonsub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think this is the correct satellite view, but
> it's been a long time.

A little off... Here is the Beach

Thank you one and all for the kind words.

Here is a "birds eye" view of Upper Trestles:

http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/#5872/style=be&lat=pjxv80&lon=560fn9&alt=-33.798&z=18&pid=5874/5003/0.6002=q:Trestles,+California:lat:34.0857475852556:long:-118.375999451&1.5040=rtp:adr.~adr.:rtop:0~0&o=&a=0:1

For more specifics on Trestles, please see here:

http://www.daytrippen.com/trestles-beach.html

Take Care,

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out


Jaanfo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ATSF100WEST Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > One other thing I failed to mention, is that
> the
> > creosote-coated WOOD trestles are living on
> > borrowed time. The one in my above image was
> > damaged by arsonists, has had some bents
> replaced,
> > and these were set on concrete pads with heavy
> > steel "movement isolation" components. This
> > section of old trestle already adjoins what it
> > will likely be replaced with - the ubiquitous
> > concrete variety.
>
> The Trestle is currently made up of three
> sections, the Approaches are wood and the middle
> is Concrete. The middle section was washed out
> during the 1998 El Nino as I recall and replaced
> with the current Concrete Structure. The 500 foot
> Wooden Segment at the West (north) end of the
> bridge was set to start replacement this past
> summer, however Schwarzenegger saw to it that a
> decrepit 100 year old wooden bridge which is ready
> to fall apart didn't have funding for replacement.
> SDNR is looking for alternate funding methods and
> last I heard was hoping to start this Spring now.
> The 100 foot wooden segment at the East (south)
> end of the bridge will remain in place for the
> time being.
>
>
> frcanyonsub Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think this is the correct satellite view, but
> > it's been a long time.
>
> A little off... Here is the Beach

Wow- I hadn't thought of that place in a while!
Great shot- growing up in San Diego I'd drive my surfer friends up there (I never had any talent for the waves myself)and watch their stuff on the beach, the waves the girls and the trains...good times!

There is also the little problem in that apparently there are the occasional steelhead in the creek and that throws a huge mess of environmental issues into anything involving the creek.

From the OC Register some time ago, I saved this photo. I have since read that other studies have confirmed that the trout and the turtles haven't been seen...

---

Then there always the issue of getting a little south of there
because the waves were better and getting "bombed" by the Marines
in their helicopters. Sort of a friendly warning and it usually
worked and yes, that a long f'ing time ago.

rehunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Then there always the issue of getting a little
> south of there
> because the waves were better and getting "bombed"
> by the Marines
> in their helicopters. Sort of a friendly warning
> and it usually
> worked and yes, that a long f'ing time ago.

Yup, we heard the "thump! Thump" of shelling in the hills behind the beach. Them marines let you know the're in the area.

As I understand it, the area between the trestle (over Christianitos Creek, by the way) and San Onofre power plant is Edison's private employee park. You may not get shelled there, but you might get booted none the less.

Your shot worked nicely, Bob. I'll have to work on mine after I get over the flu.

- Kit

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

qnyla wrote:

Bummer dude, I thought you were going to post some shots of the bikiniage down there.

The bikiniage is mostly under wet suits this month--water temps are pretty cold!

Winston Hill

Kit, we're talking pre-nuke plant and the marines patrolled
right up to the south bank of the creek.