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Goleta Beach County Park
updated: Mar 05, 2011, 9:30 AM
By the dedicated staff
Popular with fishermen, walkers, families and picnickers, Goleta Beach County Park is close to UCSB, has great bicycle access, and is perhaps the perfect place to kill time before heading to the nearby Santa Barbara Municipal Airport.
For a mellow beach experience away from Santa Barbara, Goleta Beach County Park is a best bet.
It offers free parking, a nice beach side restaurant, horseshoe pits, BBQs and a chance to watch beach erosion in action.
Here are our top 5 reasons to visit.
 Park for free. Here's one reason we DON'T recommend you visit - but it's a perk nonetheless. Parking at the beach for the purpose of walking up the bluff to UCSB is strictly prohibited. Nevertheless, students and faculty have been doing it for years. Threats of paid parking at the beach have never come to fruition. In contrast to Santa Barbara, where it's hard to park near the beach without paying a fee, it's great to be able to take the family to the beach for the day without shelling out for parking.
 Taking a long walk on a long pier. The Goleta Pier, located at the south end of the park, is a popular spot to take a stroll. And the end of the pier, you'll get a great view of the park and UCSB, and along the way you'll pass people fishing or just sitting and enjoying the view. On a windy day, it can be blustery and cold out on the pier, but it's still worth running to the end along the tarred, redwood planks.
 Erosion in action. Goleta Beach has been the subject of a dramatic effort by the County to shore up its beach from drifting off into the sea and eliminating the sandy expanse so popular with walkers and joggers. During winter storms, bulldozers and dump trucks are frequently on hand to prevent the west end of the parking lot from becoming one with the ocean. After planning efforts with community input, a major project to update and maintain the beach by retaining sand was started this year. Edhat subscribers have expressed concern about the project's impact on the water quality. The beach is especially popular with ocean swimmers, who traverse a course of buoys in the summer months.
 Bring Fido... on a leash. Dogs are allowed at County parks, as long as they are attached to their owners. Thus, Goleta is a popular place to walk a dog on the sand. Like Butterfly Beach, when the tide is in the right place, you can walk a long way on the sand in both directions. To the north, you'll be below the UCSB campus, but you can walk to Campus Point and then head toward Isla Vista. To the south, you'll pass by a nude beach below More Mesa and then hit the Hope Ranch beach.
 Grab a bite at the Beachside... or bring a bag lunch. Always a popular spot for UCSB students and their parents, as well as the Goleta business crew, the Beachside at Goleta Beach is usually packed, but accepts reservations. For lunch, the outdoor patio, sheltered from the wind by a Plexiglas barrier, is a popular choice. Another option is to bring your own food and eat at one of the park's plentiful picnic tables. Edhat enjoyed a fun subscriber brown bag lunch there last year. In the summer, you might have trouble getting a spot, but locals go to the beach to get outdoors on their lunch break and watch airplanes take off all year round.
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