Morro Rock via Morro Strand Trail < Cathy and Brea On The Go

The Morro Rock Strand Trail is a beach hike that will take you across sand dunes ending with scenic views of Morro Rock in the background.

Contents

Hike Overview

Time: Anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour. It depends how far you want to walk. We stopped before getting to Morro Rock.
Distance: About 3 miles loop if you go all the way to Morro Rock. We walked for less than 1 mile and found the spot we wanted to take photos at.
Difficulty: Easy
Dog Friendly: Yes
Parking: The parking is at Cloister’s Park

Morro Rock Strand Trail — This is where you park

Restrooms: There are restrooms here but they were locked when we tried to use them (after sunset).

What to Bring

This isn’t a long or an intense hike at all but it would still be good to bring these items:

Water
Bug repellant (this is important! We didn’t bring any and I got bit 10 to 15 times at least on my feet just from standing outside the car for a few minutes)
Camera/phone/drone for photos
Towel if you want to get your feet wet at the beach

Directions

The Morro Strand Trail entrance at Cloisters Community Park is about 20 minutes north of Pismo Beach.

Morro Rock via Morro Strand Trail

From the parking lot, you will walk on paved road for a bit.

There are some signs along the way that will point you in the right direction. We recommend wearing sandals or water-shoes since you might walk on the water. Once you get to a fork in the road, you can either go to the right or the left. The right (towards the beach access) will be longer. We went towards the Beach Boardwalk.

You will eventually get to the sand part and walk on here for a few more minutes before getting to the beach.

After about 10 minutes, you should be able to see a glimpse of Morro Rock.

There really wasn’t many people around us since most were closer to the rock at the actual beach. We wanted to be able to watch the sunset with the rock in the background so we stayed further back.