Troubled trail? Tour groups on La Jolla trail to Black’s Beach draw concerns
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A nearby guide’s featuring of tours together the Ho Chi Minh Path in La Jolla has lifted difficulties about safety, correct permitting and treatment of the path.
The Ho Chi Minh Path, also referred to as the Saigon Trail, commences throughout from 9883 La Jolla Farms Highway and descends to Black’s Beach on what climbing web-site All Trails phone calls a “challenging” route.
“Use extreme warning when on this trail,” the site’s description reads. “Many ledges are slippery and unsafe. This is a quite technological trail that includes a ton of rock scrambling and maneuvering by means of rock canyons.”
“Incredible Slot Canyons to the Pacific” is a guided tour posted on journey web-sites including Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Travelocity and Marriott Bonvoy.
The tour, hosted by Victor Runco, also is presented by his website, San Diego Tours, Ordeals & Adventures.

According to hiker Emily Miller, the girl pictured determined herself as a guide for the “Incredible Slot Canyons to the Pacific” tour and tied a rope to some trees on the trail to help tour patrons descend from the canyon walls.
(Emily Miller)
The tour runs in the mornings (it also has a at present bought-out sunset selection) and charges $49 to $57. It’s described on Airbnb as a descent into “an outstanding slot canyon with prospects for 1-of-a-form photos and amazing views of the sparkling Pacific Ocean.”
The journey web-sites have hundreds of beneficial opinions of the tour.
But the quantity of individuals and the nature of the tour have alarmed Emily Miller, a former La Jolla resident who not too long ago moved to Oceanside but returns frequently to hike the trail.
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Miller mentioned she has noticed the “Incredible Slot Canyons” tour two times.
The to start with time, she saw a female major a team of 7 or 8 people today “who were being decked out with some variety of grippy handwear like fingerless gloves. She had a rope [and] she tied it about some trees and was encouraging individuals descend from the canyon walls,” Miller stated.
An additional time, Miller stated, the female requested her to depart a individual viewpoint so her tour patrons could choose pics on your own.
Miller reported the female determined herself as a guidebook for the “Incredible Slot Canyons to the Pacific” tour. The tour lists Runco and Shelley (final identify not supplied) as guides.
Miller explained to the La Jolla Gentle that she is involved about the effect on vegetation and other environment of big teams frequenting the trail, adding that the groups she noticed went off-trail equally occasions.
“It’s the exact same delicate ecosystem as the Torrey Pines Point out Natural Reserve, without the security and the maintenance and the regulation,” she explained.
Runco told the Light that “as an outdoors person who cares about the atmosphere, the very last factor I would do or see is a person littering or desecrating our open spaces.” He included that he normally gets rid of trash from the path.
Miller also wondered about the attainable hazard of the tour bringing hiking novices to the trail, presented its troubles.
Monica Muñoz, media services supervisor for the San Diego Hearth-Rescue Section, reported there had been 57 cliffside rescues at Black’s Beach front in 2021.
“Anecdotally, we would estimate three-fourths of the rescues at Black’s Seashore as a total are on the Ho Chi Minh Trail,” Muñoz mentioned. “It is a quite hazardous path, and most people today are rescued simply because they sustained an damage the place they desired to be carried out or flown out by way of helicopter.”
Muñoz additional that the hearth department does not observe excursions on the trails or enforce principles related to them.

A indicator at the Ho Chi Minh trailhead lists metropolis of San Diego rules for use of the house.
(Elisabeth Frausto)
A signal posted at the trailhead lists town of San Diego polices for use of the assets, but town spokesman Tim Graham reported the “Saigon Path/Ho Chi Minh Path is not an officially acknowledged or developed metropolis path and we do not maintain or complete any repairs on it.”
Considering that it is not an formal trail, he extra, “there would be no requirement to attain a permit to use it.” Even so, he mentioned a enterprise tax certification would be wanted to acquire charges for company supplied on community assets.
Runco said he is “in compliance with all metropolis and county regulations and laws and am completely insured.”
But town spokeswoman Racquel Vasquez stated Runco “does not have an active enterprise tax certification with the town of San Diego” for himself, “Incredible Slot Canyons to the Pacific” or San Diego Tours, Experiences & Adventures. His enterprise tax accounts for previous ventures in San Diego were being canceled in 2010, 2013 and 2018, Vasquez explained.
Runco did not respond to thoughts about that situation.
Airbnb, which suggests it does not “endorse or warrant the existence, carry out, effectiveness, safety, top quality, legality or suitability” of any host or host support, offers data about using community land for excursions.
“Airbnb encourages hosts to think meticulously about their responsibilities and how to be a responsible host, such as by examining and complying with all community licensing prerequisites and guidelines,” reported general public coverage and communications consultant Liz DeBold Fusco. ◆
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