Gustavo Arellano: How I finally learned to care about Orange County's crumbling coastline
One Friday morning in October, I drove down Interstate 5 to a place I hadn't been in years: San Clemente State Beach. It's at the southernmost tip of Orange County and not exactly O.C.'s prettiest shoreline — that would be Crystal Cove. But its campgrounds, ocean waves and trails have long made this stretch a favorite for residents and visitors alike. Recently, transportation officials had ...
One Friday morning in October, I drove down Interstate 5 to a place I hadn't been in years: San Clemente State Beach.
It's at the southernmost tip of Orange County and not exactly O.C.'s prettiest shoreline — that would be Crystal Cove. But its campgrounds, ocean waves and trails have long made this stretch a favorite for residents and visitors alike.
Recently, transportation officials had shut down the train tracks that run just above the beach. A slow-moving landslide had shifted them more than two feet in just a year, and they were undergoing emergency repairs. Meanwhile, the Pacific Ocean kept creeping in closer and closer.
Metrolink had tried to protect the rail line from the sea the year before — large, jagged,
