Casual hikers take Santa Monica Mountains seriously





BACK TO NATURE—The Santa Monica Mountains area contains paths and trails for both novice and experienced hikers. The visitors center at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas provides a wealth of information to get you started on your next journey.

BACK TO NATURE—The Santa Monica Mountains area contains paths and trails for both novice and experienced hikers. The visitors center at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas provides a wealth of information to get you started on your next journey.

With 100 trailheads, 500 miles of trails and more than 150,000 acres that stretch from the sea to north of the 101 Freeway, and from Point Mugu in the west to as far east as the Hollywood Hills, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area can be an overwhelming place for the casual visitor.

The best place to start is the heart of the park, the visitor center at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, which opened in July 2012. Here, you can rely on the experience and knowledge of the park staff for ideas on where to go and how to get there.

Ken Low has been a National Park Service ranger in the SMMNRA for 21 years. He says he’s partial to the western part of the park near Rancho Sierra Vista. That’s where he lived after moving to the area from Gilroy, Calif., when he got the job at the park.

The area burned in the Green Meadow Fire in 1993, as well as the Springs fire in May. Low said he enjoys hiking from Rancho Sierra Vista into Point Mugu State Park despite the ravages of both fires because it offers a chance to see how nature rejuvenates and repairs itself.

“I’m watching the change over time,” Low said. “I know it’s going to come back, that’s why it doesn’t hurt me to see it that way.”

Although Iliana Espinoza has only been an NPS ranger since March, she’s discovering her favorite places. She, like many visitors, comes to hike the Solstice Canyon Trail. It’s an easy, 2.1-mile round-trip trek from the upper parking lot off Corral Canyon Road. The prize on this hike, which is also why it’s so popular, is the year-round waterfall.

There’s more to see than just the waterfall on this hike as it also winds past the stone walls of the Keller house, built in 1903, and the ruins of the Roberts Ranch House. The Roberts’ family home was built in 1952 and burned in a 1982 wildfire.

Espinoza also recommends the Mishe Mokwa Trail, a six-mile loop trail that the park rates as strenuous. It takes hikers to the highest point in the park, Sandstone Peak at 3,111 feet above sea level.

The hike features several unique rock formations, including Split Rock, Balanced Rock and Skull Rock. However, Espinoza has a more pragmatic reason for liking Sandstone Peak.

“It’s the highest spot in the park,” she said. “If it wasn’t for that peak, we wouldn’t be the Santa Monica Mountains. We’d be the Santa Monica Hills.”

NPS Ranger Mike Malone has a favorite hike that is a bit more off the beaten path than the more popular trips.

Malone, a 28-year veteran of the park service, likes to start at the parking lot at the end of Decker School Road—not Decker School Lane. Malone said to follow the trail as it descends into park forest, then along a canopy line. If you take the fork off to the right, there’s an old ranch pond.

“There are large rocks you can climb on and view the sheer drop into Nicholas Canyon,” Malone said.

You can also continue on the Nicholas Flats trail into Leo Carrillo State Park and the ocean at Sequit Point.

If you’re lucky, you’ll meet Sophia Wong at the visitor center. Wong is a former ranger and now the store and events manager for the center.

She’s an avid SMMNRA fan and has lots of suggestions on what to see.

“Most people like to see ani- mals,” said Wong, who recommends Malibu Creek State Park at dawn or dusk. “At the group campground, you can almost always see mule deer.”

She also suggests the roughly two-mile loop trail to Inspiration Point at Will Rogers State Historic Park. Although it’s a popular spot and often crowded, especially on weekends, Wong said the views can’t be beat.

But be ready to take a $12 hit for a spot in the parking lot.

“On a nice clear day, you get a panoramic view from downtown Los Angeles to the Hollywood Hills to the Pacific Palisades,” Wong said. “It’s a great place to take visitors from out of town.”

Wong also emphasized it’s not always necessary to go in search of places to experience the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

“If you find a nice, quiet spot and sit down and stay still for 15 or 20 minutes, the animals will come to you,” Wong said. “You don’t need to go look for them. They’ll find you.”


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