Ventura Section 5

This walk starts out on a great sandy swath of beach that soon leaves the hustle and bustle behind, only to be forced inland after 3 miles by a barrier, in this case the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, requiring a long walk on the road shoulder.

From Port Hueneme Beach Park, head south on the beach past the pier and the developed beachfront, leaving it behind at 1¼ miles where you reach Ormond Beach. The undeveloped beach has extensive wetlands behind the low dunes, home to endangered species, numerous wetland-unfriendly businesses, a power plant and agriculture. Not surprisingly, it's a battleground between environmentalists and developers. The value of southern California land, even if it's wet, creates tremendous pressures to develop. An important remnant of a vast wetlands hangs on here, and the Ormond Beach Observers continue to make great strides towards protecting it.

At the end of the lightly used beach you come to the Navy Base fence at 3 miles. Follow the fence inland across the wide beach to the end of Arnold Road at 3⅜ miles. Walk the shoulder of Arnold Road through agricultural fields. At 5⅞ miles the CCT turns right to follow Hueneme Road through more farms. Turn right again at 6¼ miles onto Naval Air Road paralleling Highway 1. At 7⅞ miles you pass a roadside display of historic missile weaponry and airplanes tested and evaluated at the base.

At 8⅜ you pass the main gate and the base security office. Past the main gate the road narrows, so use caution walking its narrow shoulder. The hike ends at 9½ miles at Las Posas Road just down the road from another entrance station.

SUGGESTED ROUND TRIPS AND LOOPS: Ormond Beach from the Port Hueneme Pier south to Arnold Road and back makes a fine 6-mile stroll on a little-visited beach with great opportunities for wildlife viewing.