Trail Fail at River's Mouth: Long Beach

I thought it couldn't get much worse than the trail at the Willow Street Estuary with porta-potties and abandoned shopping carts.

Well never say never. Because it turns out that a crappy trail is better than no trail.

Either the River's Mouth: Long Beach trail simply doesn't exist or I'm too stupid to find it. Now on my own, I can be pretty directionally challenged. But I came armed with my GPS and I actually looked up directions to the trail prior to leaving the house.

I followed these directions and parked on Golden by Chavez Park. I thought there might be a sign or a fairly obvious trail head. Nope. Nada. Just a nice park filled with families barbecuing and kids playing soccer.

I combed all over the park searching for the trail and got pretty excited when I saw this.

A trail head? Could it be?

But it just led to a hill with a cool bench and a view of the community center.

I also enjoyed some artwork by the 710 freeway.

I think this is a sign that I need to check out some actual hiking trails outside of Long Beach. Maybe it's time to head south to Orange County?