Backbone Trail: Segment One
I don't plan to make this blog some sort of definitive resource for this hike. There is already a great description of the hike in Robert Stone's book Day Hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains. There is also a great website by the National Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/backbonetrail.htm. The LA Times produced this map of the trail here: http://venturacountytrails.org/News/0007-LATimesBackboneTrailSpread/BackboneTrail.pdf. EveryTrail has a trail description here: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=577937. Plus HikeSpeak has info: http://www.hikespeak.com/tag/backbone-trail/. There are plenty of other resources for those interested in planning a hike. My goal is to show some pictures from our hike and give a little commentary.
Will Rogers Historic Park to Trippet Ranch in Topanga State Park
We began the hike on Sunday, October 27, 2013. It took us about 6 hours to make the 11 mike trek with a 1,650 foot elevation gain. After several hours of nearly constant uphill walking, we were pleased every time we saw relatively flat trail ahead. It was overcast by the coast so we never could see the ocean, but it was sunny and warm in the mountains.We met at Topanga State park where I left my car, and we drove to Will Rogers Historic Park and began the journey. The beginning of the trail was clearly marked, but from there on out the signage was haphazard. Best to have a map to help navigate the trails.
Will Rogers Historic Park
The trail begins behind the house pictured above.
There is a really nice grassy field beyond the house.
At the end of the field and on the left the trail starts up the mountain.
This is a great marker for the beginning of the trail. (We did not see any other markers like this the rest of the day.) So this is the deal, in order to get to Trippet Ranch we took the Inspiration Loop Trail, took a left onto the Rogers Road Trail and stayed on it for quite awhile, made a right onto Temescal Ridge Trail, made a left onto the Eagle Springs Fire Road and then a right onto Musch Trail. No problem!!
We took a slight detour to see Inspiration Point. The grassy field in the distance is the field at Will Rogers.
And this is the view looking back at the mountains.
This is where there is a fork in the trail and Rogers Road Trail begins.
Nice scenery!
We came upon a bridge. There was a family hanging out at the other end of the bridge.
This is the view from the bridge.
Looking back down to the bridge. It was fairly steep going up the mountain and there was a guide rail setup to try to prevent too many people from falling to their death. (That is only a guess.)
Why not take one more pic with the bridge?
We stopped to talk to a couple of mountain bikers who were resting in the shade. They had started in Calabasas and didn't seem to think much at all about their long trek back. They were surprised that we had hardly seen anyone on the trail.
The trail followed the top of the mountains for a while.
More nice scenery!
The trek goes on.
Our first view of the San Fernando Valley on the hike.
This seemed like a good spot to take a panorama pic.
We took advantage of the shade to stop and eat.
The trail beckons...
This was the first sign we had seen in quite a while. Might as well take a pic.
This is a view from the Hub.
So this pic shows where the Rogers Road Trail connects to the much wider Temescal Ridge Trail. I took the picture from atop another slight detour of ours. We saw a peak and climbed up to see the view.
The Temescal Trail has some big rocks.
The winding trail of Eagle Springs Fire Road.
Much more winding trail in the distance.
In the distance we can see Eagle Rock.
Somebody was really into sign making here.
If you want to see the best view of this segment of the hike, go up and take a look atop Eagle Rock.
The lower rock was very popular.
I took a panorama shot at the peak. The view was great.
While it is a great spot to look about and take pictures, it apparently is also a good place to meditate. Yoga might be good as well.
After descending Eagle Rock I took this picture. We had been standing at the top of the peak on the left, somewhat above the huge rock to the right.
After hiking for about five hours we found a map displayed on the trail.
This is where we got onto the Musch Trail.
I probably should have taken more pics of this trail because it had some nice wooded areas. We were getting anxious to get back to the car and kept the pace up.
The last mile seemed like the longest.
We made it to Trippet Ranch!
When we neared the car we saw a half dozen deer. What a nice ending to our hike!
The GPS app went out before we made it to Eagle Rock. On this map, our hike started at the lower right of the map and is traced with the red line that moves upward. If the GPS had stayed on, the red line would have continued to the left all the way to where the green tree icon is located.
Cheers!
Bruce
There is a really nice grassy field beyond the house.
At the end of the field and on the left the trail starts up the mountain.
This is a great marker for the beginning of the trail. (We did not see any other markers like this the rest of the day.) So this is the deal, in order to get to Trippet Ranch we took the Inspiration Loop Trail, took a left onto the Rogers Road Trail and stayed on it for quite awhile, made a right onto Temescal Ridge Trail, made a left onto the Eagle Springs Fire Road and then a right onto Musch Trail. No problem!!
We took a slight detour to see Inspiration Point. The grassy field in the distance is the field at Will Rogers.
And this is the view looking back at the mountains.
This is where there is a fork in the trail and Rogers Road Trail begins.
Nice scenery!
We came upon a bridge. There was a family hanging out at the other end of the bridge.
This is the view from the bridge.
Looking back down to the bridge. It was fairly steep going up the mountain and there was a guide rail setup to try to prevent too many people from falling to their death. (That is only a guess.)
Why not take one more pic with the bridge?
We stopped to talk to a couple of mountain bikers who were resting in the shade. They had started in Calabasas and didn't seem to think much at all about their long trek back. They were surprised that we had hardly seen anyone on the trail.
The trail followed the top of the mountains for a while.
More nice scenery!
The trek goes on.
Our first view of the San Fernando Valley on the hike.
This seemed like a good spot to take a panorama pic.
We took advantage of the shade to stop and eat.
This was the first sign we had seen in quite a while. Might as well take a pic.
This is a view from the Hub.
So this pic shows where the Rogers Road Trail connects to the much wider Temescal Ridge Trail. I took the picture from atop another slight detour of ours. We saw a peak and climbed up to see the view.
The winding trail of Eagle Springs Fire Road.
Much more winding trail in the distance.
In the distance we can see Eagle Rock.
Somebody was really into sign making here.
The lower rock was very popular.
I took a panorama shot at the peak. The view was great.
While it is a great spot to look about and take pictures, it apparently is also a good place to meditate. Yoga might be good as well.
After descending Eagle Rock I took this picture. We had been standing at the top of the peak on the left, somewhat above the huge rock to the right.
After hiking for about five hours we found a map displayed on the trail.
This is where we got onto the Musch Trail.
I probably should have taken more pics of this trail because it had some nice wooded areas. We were getting anxious to get back to the car and kept the pace up.
The last mile seemed like the longest.
We made it to Trippet Ranch!
When we neared the car we saw a half dozen deer. What a nice ending to our hike!
It's the GPS, Baby
The GPS app went out before we made it to Eagle Rock. On this map, our hike started at the lower right of the map and is traced with the red line that moves upward. If the GPS had stayed on, the red line would have continued to the left all the way to where the green tree icon is located.
Looking Ahead
Thanks for taking a look at this first entry. We hope to hike the entire Backbone Trail in about 8 segments. We are not on any timeline so it might be several months before we finish. Whenever we hike the next segment I will add another post here.Cheers!
Bruce
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