Saddle Peak Trail Trio

A few hundred feet up followed by a couple thousand feet down. That is the quick description of the fourth hike in our ongoing Backbone Trail adventure. There are great views from Saddle Peak East and impressive sandstone formations along the way. Near the end of the hike there is a tree-shaded canyon with Dark Canyon Creek, or at least the dry river bed where there usually is a creek. And for this hike we had a special guest hiker, our sister-in-law, Karen.

Ascent

We had a bit of an inauspicious start as we tried to park one car at the end of what would have been the second of two segments of the trail that we wanted to hike that day, but we could not find anyplace to park. Darn "No Parking" signs! So we drove to where the first segment (Saddle Peak Trail) ended and found plenty of parking. I left my car there and Matt drove the three of us to Lois Ewen Overlook to begin the hike.

I am still feeling a bit dazed this early in the morning, but pleased with the view from Lois Ewen Overlook.

This is Karen, ready to start the hike.

Across the street is where the trail begins. The deep grooves are where one must scramble up to the trail.

We will ascend to the peak in the distance.

We can see the ocean along the way.

The trail goes around the left of the water tower.

And next to the water tower Karen poses for a pic with the ocean view.

Then we really start heading uphill.

As we near the Saddle Peak East summit, we see the even taller Saddle Peak West summit.

The final ascent to the summit of Saddle Peak East.

The top of Saddle Peak East is very flat.

And has great, expansive views! In the distance we could see not only Santa Monica, but far into LA.

Looking north we could see all the way to the San Fernando Valley.

Descent

As we headed from the summit back to Saddle Peak Trail, we had great views off in the distance.

This GPS shows the beginning of the hike. We took the detour to the summit and then retraced our steps and got back onto the trail. Soon after starting the descent, the trail passes by the majestic sandstone formations.

This was the first of the sandstone formations that we saw.

And then this.

There was even stone cut to make steps for a short distance.

Yes! A beautiful rock wall with what appears to be a rock dog peering up.

I realized later that the rock that looks like it is pointing up to the sky was also used in the picture on the back cover of the Robert Stone book Day Hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains.

And the final sandstone picture is this one with a bit of a halo.

The trail opened up now and then to afford us some nice views. In this pic the view was to the west.

There was a lot of zig zagging down the mountain.

Here we could see to the northeast.

Then the trail began to open up a bit.

Matt consulted the Stone book to figure out which way we show go at the only fork in the road in the entire descent. (Go left)

A more close-up mountain view.

Then the trail went back to being wooded.

I saw an opportunity to take a pic of Matt and Karen.

Then Karen took a pic of Matt and me.

No more wooded trail!

It was an open trail for a while before heading back down more mountain.

Some mountains that we passed.

Then we saw the valley below with various houses and winding roads.

Zig and zag 

Time for a short rest.

Now we could clearly see the zigzag-iness of the trail ahead.

And then we came upon this nicely shaded but dry Dark Canyon Creek.

We went up out of the canyon and after a few more switchbacks we were at the road and the end of Saddle Peak Trail. And the end-of-the-hike pandemonium began! From Lois Ewen Overlook to the Saddle Peak East summit to Piuma Road, the hike took us about 3 and a half hours.

Gimme Some GPS
This is the full GPS track from this day's hike. It ran out a little before the end, right about when we were headed into Dark Canyon.



This is the color-coded GPS of all four of our hikes on the Backbone Trail thus far. Our first hike is colored in red and should have continued to where the green hike begins. The green hike line was our second hike with that detour near the end. The third hike is aqua colored, and also has the big detour near the end to see the Topanga Lookout. Our fourth hike is marked in purple.

Looking Ahead

We have many more hikes to complete before finishing the Backbone Trail. So far each of the hikes has been unique and rewarding. We are curious as to what lies ahead and are eager to get back out on the trail. Thanks to Karen for accompanying us - it was nice to have you along for the hike!

Cheers!
Bruce