Shelter Island Loop: San Diego, CA

Shelter Island Loop is 2.5 mile hike with 33 feet of elevation gain located in San Diego, California and is a part of Shoreline Park. A great place to go for a walk if you want the bay breeze, well maintained walking path, and some great views. Just across the water is a military base and you can watch jets and helicopters leaving on a regular basis. For me this was great since my son loves pointing out planes and helicopters in the sky.

For the start of this trail you can start really wherever you want. Using the starting point on AllTrails you to get the max distance out of the walk without having to backtrack. While there is plenty of parking I would be very cautious during a holidays. I can only imaging that the traffic and parking would be miserable.

While walking the trail there is plenty of benches to stop and take break if needed. There are also some bathrooms available as well. Along the path you will also get to see various art installations and a really nice (but small) children’s playground that has some swings and other climbing type structures on it.

Looking down at the water I saw fire pits that looked like a great location to have smores and relax. When you get towards the pier there was a lot of people fishing, not sure if they caught anything, but I don’t think it would be crowded if they were not catching anything.

When you get to the end of the loop you will see the San Diego Police Harbor Patrol boat dock. You then start heading back towards the Kona Kai hotel. Shortly after making the loop you will need to find a pathway in the parking lot to cut over to the trail that runs a long the backside of the hotel as well as a really large boat doc. If you are using a stroller, when you get to the end of the trail there is approximately 5 steps that you will need to cary the stroller up. I pulled the stroller up the stairs backwards and it was not much of an issue. Definitely something to consider though depending on your stroller handling skills :).

In summary this was a great casual walk with some great views. I will definitely be back, but will avoid during any holidays or events.