This article originally appeared in the January 2019 edition of Colony Magazine.
It’s also published here.
On a whim, my 2 and 4-year-old kiddos and I recently explored the Morro Bay Harborwalk. We were met with thrill-worthy beach swings, playful sea otters that tumbled and twirled in the calm harbor waters and boats that passed us as we ran along the expansive, slated boardwalk. Kind of magical, right? This easy and free kidventure is a great way to get outside with a few key stops while you’re there.
Once you walk the Harborwalk you’ll find several lookout points, a slatted boardwalk and a Class 1 bike path away from the road. Between your start at the Embarcadero and the parking lot there are also two public restroom stops, a swing set and several lookout points with benches facing the calm waters.
The humble beginnings of this stretch of Morro Bay were all just a vision In the early 1950s, according to the City. As the story goes, a Mr. Arthur E. Coleman worked to connect Morro Rock to the Embarcadero via a road to build a waterfront park for children. Coleman Park features a fenced basketball court and six swings (including two bucket swings for the babes!). The accompanying Harborwalk, completed about a decade ago, stretches from the Embarcadero’s quaint string of gift/seafood/saltwater taffy shops to the iconic Morro Rock, the last in a line of volcanic earthly throwbacks reaching south toward San Luis Obispo.
The Harborwalk pairs a pedestrian walkway with slatted boards and a separate, two-lane paved bike path for guests of all kinds. Even the crazy preschool-toddler variety. In fact, our favorite stop is a tie between the Coleman Park swing set and the playful otter pups swimming just south of the Rock. As a bonus, it has lots of lookouts and views of harbor boats! And if you’ve studied up on your preschooler storybooks, you’ll know aaaall the boat names.
And that’s it! Easy-peasy. You could end your trip there, or go explore the Morro Bay Embarcadero which we detail in a Morro Bay Day Guide over on the blog, twontow.com; OR you can call it a success and just head home (I, personally, tend to not chance it with those tiny humans in tow). Either way, it will be fun day in Morro Bay.
See you there!