ย 

Bike Ride to the Salt Mines

Public Disclosure: An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. Changes and Closures happen frequently so check directly with each site before you head out to know if it's open or not and what their policies are.


San Diego family bike ride to the South Bay Salt Mines in Chula Vista near Imperial Beach
Bike Ride to the South Bay Salt Mines

Cooking Tip: a little salt goes a long way! ๐Ÿง‚ ๐Ÿ‘Œ ๐Ÿ˜œ You can find this mountain of sea salt in Chula Vista near the Bayshore Bikeway trail. ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธ

Park in front of Trident Coffee โ˜•๏ธ ; itโ€™s a known bike staging area since thereโ€™s a bike path entrance nearby. ๐Ÿ‘Œ And obviously fuel up with the best cold brew Iโ€™ve ever had! and grab a keto-paleo donut when youโ€™re done. ๐Ÿฉ It's only 1.5 miles away, or a 15 minute bike ride with kids.

As you enter the Bayshore Bike trail, turn right (north) โžก๏ธ and youโ€™ll ride over some fun bridges with cool views of the salt ponds. When the trail ends, continue on the back roads over to the South Bay Salt Works; which began operations in the 1860โ€™s! ๐Ÿ˜ฒ You can see salt on the conveyer belt going all the way up to the packing house. Youโ€™ll probably see a semi hauling away bags of salt. ๐Ÿš› ๐Ÿง‚๐Ÿง‚๐Ÿง‚


South Bay Salt Works harvests sea salt thatโ€™s evaporated from the ocean water and collected in the salt ponds nearby. ๐Ÿ‘‰ This is a stopping point for 94 different breeds of wild & endangered migratory birds. The salt rich ponds breed brine flies & brine shrimp ๐Ÿฆ that birds love to eat. ๐Ÿ˜‹ During the winter you might be able to catch a monthly tour out into the salt ponds to observe migratory birding. ๐Ÿฆ… ๐Ÿ•Š ๐Ÿฆœ


Ride back to where you started and instead of turning right, go straight ahead and youโ€™ll find some easy dirt trails along the Otay River. Youโ€™ll also find Sellers-Keever Park (memorial for 2 young boys) with rocks to climb and viewing telescopes for bird watching. ๐Ÿ”ญ ๐Ÿฆ… ๐Ÿ•Š ๐Ÿฆœ



You can also just drive here and park right in front for a super quick stop.

South Bay Salt Works

1470 Bay Blvd., Chula Vista, 91911

(no website)



If you're biking over to see it, park in front of:

Trident Coffee

536 13th St., Imperial Beach, 91932

619-522-4905

tridentcoffee.com

@tridentcoffee



More photos below from our bike ride to South Bay Salt Works: