For years, the Central Coast public has enjoyed access to the Ontario Ridge trail, a hike that begins in Shell Beach along the spine of a steep hillside and leads to sweeping views of the coast.
And yet, despite its popularity, the Ontario Ridge isn’t technically a trail. It’s unauthorized and encroaches on private property.
“Essentially, the trail right now, as people are using it, is a trespass. There’s no formal right for the public to use it,” said Nick Franco, director of the San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Department.
That finally changed on Aug. 23. Fulfilling a 16-year-old goal, SLO County inked easement agreements with two Ontario Ridge property owners—the Spearman and Cool families—which effectively formalize the trail. The easements received unanimous support from the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 23.
Approval of the easements means that the trail can finally be brought into the county parks system and maintained to its standards. The “informal” trail that exists on the ridge now doesn’t conform to those standards, Franco said.
But the public shouldn’t expect major changes to the trail, at least not anytime soon, Franco said. The long-term plan for the Shell Beach side of the trail (there’s also an entry/exit point at Cave Landing near Avila Beach) is to slightly reroute it to the intersection of Avila Beach Drive and Shell Beach Road. A new roundabout is planned at that intersection, so the rerouting will need to wait until construction of that project is complete.
“I don’t see any massive changes [being made to the trail],” Franco said. “Where it would change is on both ends.”
The Cave Landing side of the Ontario Ridge trail is also a work in progress. That land is also privately owned, by the McCarthy family, and in 2021, the Coastal Commission denied a McCarthy plan to build a new home on the land and reroute the trail easement (which the county had signed off on).
Franco said that the county is continuing to negotiate with the McCarthy family and trail advocates on a resolution for the Cave Landing end of the trail that works for everyone.
“We have to come up with something that people want, that’s OK with the McCarthys, and that we’re willing to maintain,” he said. “There’s always a solution, you just to have to keep chipping away at it.”
At the Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 23, Shell Beach property owner Kristina Spearman said she was happy to be able to provide the easement on her land for the public to continue to enjoy hiking Ontario Ridge.
“I know it can be a challenge to have that balance between property rights and what you can do for your community, but this is something we really believe in,” Spearman told the board. “It isn’t something we had to do, but we did it because we believe in our community and we could, so thank you for that opportunity.” Δ
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 4, 2022.