This hike begins near Boney Ridge and the highest peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains. After about a 1000 foot elevation gain the trail leads to Sandstone Peak and some of the most fantastic views of the entire trail. After meandering along the ridge the trail leads down to Sycamore Canyon and then back up another 800 feet to a ridge between Sycamore Canyon and La Jolla Canyon until descending to Point Mugu. The individual trails on this last hike were many: Mishe Mokwa Trailhead, Sandstone Peak Trail, Chamberlain Trail, Old Boney Trail, Blue Canyon Trail, Big Sycamore Canyon Trail, Wood Canyon Vista Trail, Overlook Fire Road, and Ray Miller Trail. A map certainly helps out on this segment because the signage is not great. And even with a map we made a wrong turn late in the day but ended up in the right place anyways.
I took a lot of pictures on this hike so there will be more pics and less commentary for this post. On to the pics!
Mishe Mokwa Trailhead
We started the hike around eight on a beautiful Sunday morning.
Boney Ridge was up ahead.
Sandstone Peak Trail
We took the trail to the left to head up to Sandstone Peak.
Another view of Boney Ridge
The trail was mostly uphill at the beginning.
Looking back down to where we parked the car.
more uphill
sandstone in the distance
and more uphill
Off to the north we could see Balancing Rock.
getting close to Sandstone Peak
We could not pass up the opportunity to see the peak!
The trail disappeared and we had to scramble up to the peak.
At the very top there is a plaque dedicated to W. Herbert Allen
What a view!
There I am showing off my new HikingTheBackboneTrail.blogspot.com custom t-shirt with the Pacific Ocean off in the distance
Matt was very happy with the views.
And there is the view without us in the foreground.
Descending back down to the trail
The trail along Boney Ridge went by all kinds of sandstone rocks.
We took the short hike to Inspiration Point
Inspiration Point view 1
Inspiration Point view 2
Inspiration Point view 3
Inspiration Point view 4 and Matt
Back to the trail and more sandstone and greenery
Tri-Peaks
Chamberlain Trail
From here to Danielson Ranch (about 6 miles) we did not see anyone on the trail.
There was a bit more of Boney Ridge to see before the descent.
The trail became wooded and only occasionally did we get a view.
We could make out a bit of the sandstone through the trees. We knew we were close to Boney Peak but could not see it through the brush.
We got a glimpse of where we were headed.
We were heading downhill fast and beginning to see the far side of the mountain ridge.
This was a particularly nice part of the trail.
We could see the trail in the distance.
We got more of a glimpse of the mountain peaks.
There was still a bit of brush.
The trail really opened up and we could see way off to Camarillo.
We stopped here and had a snack and watched a small plane maneuver through the valleys below.
Last year there was a serious fire that went all the way across this range to the ocean. Up until this point we were really impressed with the greenery, but from here until we got to Point Mugu we saw the devastating effects of that fire.
Old Boney Trail
The Chamberlain Trail had been leading us down and away from Boney Ridge. Starting here the Old Boney Trail kept descending a bit but led us back towards the ridge for a while.
A glimspe of the mountains through the burned trees.
Blue Canyon Trail
This short segment was fairly flat and led away from Boney Ridge towards Sycamore Canyon.
There were many people preparing to clear the nearby trails. That green vehicle is loaded with shovels.
We made it to Sycamore Canyon.
Big Sycamore Canyon Trail
This was the easiest part of the hike. It was flat and open and quite nice. We saw many mountain bikers in the area.
Wood Canyon Fire Road
We were looking for Wood Canyon Vista Trail. In this picture it may be a bit hard to see the sign which reads Wood Canyon. We assumed this was Wood Canyon Vista Trail. WRONG. We found out much later after looking at the GPS that this is actually Wood Canyon Fire Road. Just .2 miles further down the canyon is the beginning of Wood Canyon Vista Trail. You have been warned. Signage sux. We did find some shade not too far down this road and had our lunch.
Wood Canyon Fire Road started off nicely enough.
The fire had burned through here leaving bright flowers and fresh growth in stark contrast to the burn areas.
We saw another dried up creek.
Then there was this sign with directions to Overlook Trail.
We began the trek up.
Nonstop it went up. It was a curving road so we could not see very far ahead. It was brutal.
Brutal!!
BRUTAL!!!!
Overlook Fire Road
We finally made it to what appeared to be the Overlook Fire Road.
While it was still heading uphill the incline was not so steep.
The hills all around were bare.
We could see Boney Ridge way off in the distance. All around us was barren landscape.
Then we saw the Pacific Ocean.
And way off in the distance we could see PCH.
Now we could clearly see the entrance to La Jolla Canyon where we had left one of our cars.
Ray Miller Trail
This is the last trail of the hike.
It is a narrow trail that is close to the ocean and was very windy this afternoon.
We could see the trail going all over the place as it led down to the canyon below. I put my hat and phone into my backpack because the winds got so strong. Plus, I needed to concentrate on all of the downhill hiking as my knee was messed up at this point.
At the end of the hike I was fairly ecstatic! I was hoping for a sign signifying the beginning/end of the Backbone Trail but we could not find one. Ah well...
GPS
This GPS shows the final hike from top left and Boney Ridge to the bottom right and Point Mugu.
This is the GPS for our entire Backbone Trail hike. We began at the far right of the map at Will Rogers State Historic Park and over ten hikes made it Point Mugu on the far left of the map. Thanks again to Matt for tracking our progress via GPS.
Looking Back
Set a goal and go for it. The idea of hiking the Backbone Trail came up in conversation almost a year ago and Matt and I made it happen. It was great to see so many beautiful areas in the Santa Monica Mountains. Most of the great view areas that are near parking were busy with people. We saw lots of mountain bikers all over. But there were many times when it felt like we were all alone in remote areas of the mountains. We happened to make the hike during one of the the driest times in recent California history so it might be interesting to do the hike again in the future when there are rivers and creeks and waterfalls again. But for now we will hike in other areas that are new to us.
A special thanks goes out to my wife Ann and Matt's wife Susan for putting up with our hiking adventures.
For anyone interested in hiking part or all of the Backbone Trail - go for it!
Cheers,
Bruce
