A portion of the beach trail on the south end of San Clemente that was shut down due to a landslide has been reopened following repair, the city announced on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
The debris fell near Lasuen Beach and blocked about 150 feet of the walking trail — the landslide happened sometime in the evening of Sunday, Jan. 4, or early morning hours of Monday, Jan. 5, the latest in a series in the beach town that have impacted public access.
Meanwhile, work on the north end of San Clemente to fix damage from a previous landslide continues, with officials announcing this week that a newly created beach path and a 1,400-foot-long catchment wall between El Portal and Linda Lane will be done by summer.
The beach path along that section from North Beach remains closed.
The work, being done by the Orange County Transportation Authority and Metrolink, is being done “to protect the community, rail passengers and rail operations from bluff erosion,” officials said in an announcement.
As part of the project, the popular 2.3-mile beach trail is being restored. Its Mariposa Bridge was destroyed in the landslide in 2024, a section that connects the beach trail from the pier to North Beach.
Instead of a bridge, the pathway will now be flat like the rest of the trail, with rock boulders on one side to protect from the ocean and the wall on the inland side to protect from the bluff.
Landslides in recent years have forced a shutdown of rail service through the city multiple times, the most recent string starting in 2021 following a big storm and strong surf that damaged the railroad tracks and homes on the south end of the town.
Several landslides then occurred north of the pier, shutting down rail service on several occasions and also damaging the city’s historic Casa Romantica and destroying the popular Mariposa Bridge.
Late last year, San Clemente officials voted to join a coalition with other coastal cities that are facing similar landslide threats and bluff failures.
City officials hope to urge the state to add landslides as emergencies, the same way fires and floods are, for assistance when they impact the city or personal property.
For more information, go to sanclemente.gov/projects.