DANA POINT : Salt Creek Bike Trail to Remain Closed

The popular Salt Creek bike trail will probably stay closed for at least another month as geologists deal with an unstable hill above it, a county official said.

Geologists’ reports on the condition of the hillside are underway. Larry Paul, the county coastal facilities manager, said it appears likely that some excavation and regrading will need to be done.

“We’re not in a position to say much because we’re still waiting for the geologists’ report,” Paul said. “But just looking at the task ahead, I’d estimate that it will be at least a month” before the bike trail is reopened. It was closed in June.

The closed section is just above the Monarch Beach golf course near the intersection of Crown Valley Parkway and Camino del Avion.

About 10,000 bikers and joggers use the scenic route each month during the summer. The trail starts at Chapparosa Park in Laguna Niguel and winds through modest hills and ravines before ending at Salt Creek Beach Park, a well-known surfers’ haunt.

Paul said the county has received several complaints about the closure and some people still use the trail despite warnings. The ground movement caused several large cracks in the trail, which the county repaired several times before conceding that the entire section of hill needed reconstruction.

The unstable slope is mainly owned by the William Lyon Co., which in June was forced to demolish a 32-unit section of apartments that was being torn apart by the slow-moving earth.

The Lyon Co. is in charge of repairing the bluffs. Company officials could not be reached to comment on the condition of the hillside.

The slope slippage also caused a water pipe and a sewer line to break. Both have been rerouted by the South Coast Municipal Water District.