This beach hosts the largest 4th of July event on the West Coast, and it's also home to a long bike trail that connects it to the beaches stretching further up north, which I’ll be showing you a little of all 5 I visited on this one trip.

Visiting multiple beaches in a single trip has kind of become a thing for me this year. Normally, I would bring some stuff, haul it onto the sand, and set up as close as I can to the shoreline. But most of the time now, I like jumping on my bike and riding the trails as far as I can go.

Before I started biking today, I figured the trail would end somewhere near the north end of Huntington Beach — maybe four or five miles out. But the path just kept on going, continuing past Bolsa Chica Beach, then linking to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) over to Sunset Beach, Seal Beach, and eventually Long Beach.

And that's actually where this beach path ends. To keep following the coast, you'd have to take city streets around the harbor and the Palos Verdes hills to reach another famous route — the Marvin Braude Trail, better known as "The Strand." But that one doesn't pick back up until miles away, up in the South Bay.

Anyway, there’s a lot of cool stuff I saw along the way, all near the bike trails, and at the end, I’ll show you the results from this very long, nearly five-hour bike ride.

I'll say it up front that I didn't get to stick around for the fireworks show, as it was the main purpose of my visit. But I got to ride this trail for nearly five hours, passing five major beaches along the way and riding a total of 36 miles, and I absolutely loved it.

In this post, I'll show you the parade setup in Huntington before it kicks off, the canals in Long Beach, and all the incredible homes, people, and views along the way.

The Costs

Total = $82

I'd never been on this trail before, and I'd never seen these beaches on the Fourth of July, so it was an incredible experience taking in all the people, the decorations, and the spirit of Independence Day spread across more than 18 miles of coastline.

The centerpiece of the whole morning is the Huntington Beach 4th of July Parade, which marches right down Main Street through the heart of downtown. The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. with more than 100 entries — classic cars, marching bands, military veterans, and community groups — and it's such a big production that it's broadcast live on local television every year. I rolled in early enough to catch the crews staging the cars before it started.

Now, one thing I picked up from trips here when I was younger is that these holidays get extremely busy, and parking becomes nearly impossible the later you arrive. On a holiday, anytime after 11 a.m. is usually too late, so this time I showed up early, around 8 a.m., and I was really glad I did.

The Huntington Beach Bike Path is about 8.5 miles long, running from the north end of Bolsa Chica State Beach all the way down to the Santa Ana River at the southern tip of Huntington State Beach — right where Huntington meets the Newport Beach line. Today, I decided to start near the Beach Boulevard entrance, parking in the State Beach lot.

What I found interesting is that Huntington's coastline is actually split into three separate sections, each managed on its own. Bolsa Chica State Beach sits on the north end and Huntington State Beach on the south end. Both those sections are run by California State Parks, while Huntington City Beach, the roughly 3.5-mile stretch in the middle around the pier, is managed by the City of Huntington Beach itself. That middle section is the pricier parking lot of the three sections.

I took my time getting set up, watching as people steadily filled the parking lot and began setting up their tents, chairs, and coolers throughout the beach.

As I was setting up my bike, attaching the tire and inflating it, some random guy was standing near my car with a small group and started talking to me about my bike. He was a super chill guy, and he told me he'd ridden six miles up the trail before turning back. That got me excited, hoping to reach the end of the trail myself — at least until I found out it just keeps going.

Anyway, I never caught his name, but he was a really cool guy.

With my bike finally ready, I started heading north. It was cool to watch all the restaurants setting up their storefronts for what was clearly going to be a massive turnout. Everywhere I looked, people were cruising by with big flag poles mounted on their bikes — and I loved seeing that much American pride in our nation's colors.

During the afternoon, the whole place was already flooding with activity. Hundreds of people were staking out spots in the grass near the Pier and along Main Street, while thousands more strolled or cruised past me on the trail. Everywhere I looked, people were decked out in red, white, and blue, waving flags and banners — and with this being America's 250th birthday, the pride in the air was impossible to miss.

I learned that Huntington doesn't just throw any Fourth of July party either. This is the largest Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi. What's wild is how far back this tradition goes.

The city has held this celebration every single year since 1904, which makes this the 122nd one. The very first wasn't even about independence, in fact, it was thrown to celebrate the arrival of Henry Huntington's electric "Red Car" train that finally linked this little beach town to Long Beach and Los Angeles, and even that one pulled in around 50,000 people. Today, the same tradition draws more than half a million people to Main Street every year.

If you ever find yourself walking Main Street here, keep an eye on the sidewalk right where it meets the Pier and PCH. That's the Surfing Walk of Fame — a row of granite stones honoring surfing legends, basically Huntington's version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And just across the street, outside Huntington Surf & Sport, is the Surfers' Hall of Fame, where the greats press their handprints and footprints into the concrete. It's a fitting little detail for a town that literally goes by "Surf City USA."

As I passed all the incredible homes of Bolsa Chica and Sunset Beach, the trail stopped running right alongside the sand. Instead, you cross over to the PCH, ride over the bridge at the mouth of Anaheim Bay, and follow the highway past the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge — which, honestly, is a beautiful stretch in itself, gliding along a large coastal salt marsh.

And this spot is way more unique than it looks. The refuge covers about 920 acres of salt marsh and wetland, and it's actually tucked inside an active military base — the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. It's been federally protected since 1972 and is jointly managed by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which makes it one of the last untouched coastal wetlands left in all of Southern California.

That's a big deal for wildlife. The refuge sits right on the Pacific Flyway, so it's a major rest stop for migrating birds, and it protects several endangered species — like the light-footed Ridgway's rail, the California least tern, and Belding's savannah sparrow. Looking out across the marsh, you can spot herons, egrets, pelicans, and all kinds of shorebirds working the mudflats. Here's a fun fact, those least terns actually nest on a man-made island that was once used for rocket testing during the Apollo program.

This highway portion along the refuge is only about a mile and a half of riding, but with the open water and marsh stretching out on one side, it ends up being one of the most beautiful and unique parts of the entire route.

For most of this bike ride, I didn’t really know where I was going. I just tried my best to stick close to the beach and ride any bike trails along the coast. As I had crossed over Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge on the PCH, I made my way into this restaurant’s parking lot called The Beach House.

You can see exactly where on the image above, marked 1.

Eventually, I go from point 1 (San Gabriel River Bike Trail) to point 2 (Naples).

As I was rounding about the parking lot, I noticed off to the side was a trail with plenty of bike riders and people casually walking or running along. Lo and behold, I found myself a new trail called the San Gabriel River Bike Trail and its endpoint here.

Turns out the San Gabriel River Bike Trail is a big one — it runs roughly 38 miles, all the way from the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains up in Azusa down to where the river spills into the ocean right here in Seal Beach. It follows the San Gabriel River the entire way on a paved, almost completely traffic-free path that threads through more than a dozen cities before ending at the coast.

What's cool is the history behind it. The trail that runs along this long, straight channel was made possible after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lined the San Gabriel River with concrete flood-control channels through the mid-1900s to tame the destructive flooding that used to hit the region. That flood-control project is exactly what gave cyclists this uninterrupted route, letting you ride all the way from the mountains down to the sea without ever crossing traffic. Pretty wild that a flood channel turned into one of Southern California's best long-distance bike trails.

Well, I didn’t plan to ride this bike trail today, and since this trail is so long, I don’t plan to deviate towards exploring it today. I’m already on a mission to see how far along the coast I can go and have no intention today of biking inland. I’ll have to add this to my bucket list.

This area was incredible. I had to stop biking for a while just to watch the people below the bridge cruising by on their paddleboards and kayaks. I wish I had taken a better picture here, but I was too busy looking up the price of a paddleboard so I could come back and paddle through these canals myself, right in between all these unbelievably beautiful homes.

A fun fact about this place is that just over a century ago, this whole neighborhood was nothing but a marshy tidal flat at the mouth of the San Gabriel River — the same river I was just riding along. Back in 1903, a developer named Arthur Parsons dredged out the mud and carved these canals to build an Italian-style resort village, inspired by the "Venice of America" up the coast. The name Venice was already taken, so he let the public vote on another famous Italian city, and they picked Naples — which is why the islands are laced with canals, arched footbridges, and streets with Italian names.

Here's another fun fact: real Venetian gondola rides have floated through here since the early 1900s, and the Gondola Getaway, running since 1982, is now the oldest and largest gondola fleet in all of America. Every December, the whole place even lights up for a beloved Christmas Boat Parade.

It’s a cool looking place, but is it open to the public?

The Naples Canals are open to the public, but you do have to find a launch point to get on the water. From what I understand, the nearest free spots are Mother's Beach on Alamitos Bay and Bayshore Beach over in Belmont Shore — both are calm, protected little beaches where you can get in and paddle out. From either one, you'll wrap around Naples Island before you can slip into the canals themselves, though Bayshore sits right across the water and puts you closer. If you're paddling a board or kayak, a full loop around the island and through the canals runs a little over 3 miles — so a casual ride will take you somewhere around an hour and a half to two hours.

I’m happy I discovered this cool looking place. Now I’m also adding this place to my bucket list.

I did not know what I was getting myself into over here. Bay Shore Ave was closed off to vehicles, as tons of college kids filled the streets and shore, partying for the holiday. I thought it was awesome to see and was happy that everyone was having a good time. I wish I could have hung out and taken part, but I enjoyed simply passing through.

As it turns out, this wasn't just some random gathering. This stretch of Bayshore Beach — tucked at the end of Bay Shore Avenue in Belmont Shore — is known to just about every local by its unofficial nickname, "Horny Corner." For decades now, it's been the go-to party zone in Long Beach, and every Fourth of July it turns into one of the biggest young-crowd beach parties in all of Southern California.

And it gets huge. We're talking thousands of college students packing the sand and spilling out into the surrounding streets, which is exactly why the city barricades Bay Shore Avenue to cars. In recent years it's grown big enough that Long Beach has started gating off the beach entrances, running bag and cooler checks, and stationing extra police and security to keep things under control. It's become the kind of party that's a blast when the vibes are good, but can tip over into chaos when the crowds get too rowdy. Lucky for me, I caught it right in that sweet spot where the street was packed, festive, and everyone was just out having a good time.

I finally reached the end of the bike path. After nearly 18 miles of riding along the shore, I found myself at the Long Beach Cruise Terminal, where they dock the massive Carnival cruise ships. I've never been on a cruise before, but now I know exactly where to find them if I ever decide to go.

And the terminal itself has a pretty wild backstory. That giant white dome the ships pull up next to is the largest free standing geodesic dome in the world, stretching about 415 feet wide and 130 feet tall. It was built back in 1983 for one very specific reason: to house Howard Hughes' legendary "Spruce Goose," the enormous wooden flying boat that was the largest aircraft ever built at the time. The plane sat on display inside the dome until 1992, when it was moved to a museum up in Oregon. After that, the space was even used as a Hollywood soundstage for movies like Batman Forever, before Carnival eventually took it over and turned it into the cruise terminal you see today.

I was wondering though, why are there only Carnival cruise ships here?

It turns out Carnival runs this terminal exclusively, under a long-term agreement that makes Long Beach its dedicated West Coast home port. If you wanted to sail with any other cruise line from around here, you would have to head next door to the Port of Los Angeles over in San Pedro instead. That exclusive setup is actually part of what's made this one of the busiest cruise terminals in all of North America.

And at this point, this was the end of the line for me. I couldn't go any farther because I still had to double back past every single beach I'd just ridden through, and by now I was starving and absolutely dying of thirst.

Still, I was happy to finally reach the end, so I could turn around satisfied, knowing I'd pushed to go as far as I possibly could. Overall, this was a great ride, and it felt so much more rewarding getting to do it on the Fourth of July. I'll say this though, if you're not a fan of crowds, you might not love how packed the trail gets near each beach on a holiday like this. But any other time of year, it's an absolutely great ride.

By the time I got back to my car, nearly 5 hours later, I ran into that same guy I met earlier today. He was surprised just as much as I was that I had biked all the way to Long Beach and back.

My stats

After this incredibly long bike ride, I’m doing two things differently.

See you next time.

Amado