Ready, Set, Latigo!

Before getting to the new hike I want to provide a short recap: Matt and I are slowly but surely hiking the Backbone Trail through the Santa Monica Mountains. We started hiking at Will Rogers State Historic Park and are making the 69-mile journey west to Point Mugu.  This was the seventh of what should be 10 hikes to fully complete the trail. Matt is tracking our progress with GPS and I am writing a blog post and including pictures for each hike. The aim is to not only have have a record of the trek for ourselves but to also provide a small introduction for any other hikers that might be interested in making the hike. There is an excellent and detailed guide to the Backbone Trail in Robert Stone's book Day Hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains. And now - on to the hike!

Everybody got to deviate from the norm  
   —Neil Peart

Typically we hike on Sundays starting around 8 am, but we had to change it up for this hike. Instead of waiting for a free Sunday we decided to hike on a Saturday afternoon. It was warm and overcast when we met around noon at the end point of the hike on Encinal Canyon Road. Then there was a relatively short drive to the beginning of the hike on Latigo Canyon Road. We planned to hike the Newton Canyon Trail to Kanan Dume Road and then take the Upper Zuma Canyon Trail and the Trancas Canyon Trail to get to Encinal Canyon Road. The total distance was to be a little over 7 miles. We managed to miss the beginning of the Trancas Canyon Trail (there is no sign to mark the beginning of the trail) and made it more like a 10 mile hike. Hey, we got some good views on our detour!

Newton Canyon Trail

The GPS pics shows Latigo Canyon Road and the beginning of the trail on the upper left. On the lower right of the pic the trail goes over Tunnel 1 of Kanan Dume Road and down to a parking lot.

Nice view at the start of the trail.

One side of Newton Canyon

Shaded trail ahead...

and the more typical non-shaded trail

Before heading downhill we had a view to the west...

as well as a view back to Castro Peak.

More shaded trail

Here is Matt after crossing over the tunnel above Kanan Dume Road and looking down to the parking area.


Upper Zuma Canyon Trail

The GPS above shows the trail as is leaves the Kanan Dume parking lot on the bottom left of the map. The trail goes through Upper Zuma Canyon to Zuma Ridge Trail where we took our big detour. And as you can see on the map the detour was all uphill. We found the Trancas Canyon Trail and eventually made our way to Encinal Canyon Road.

Nice view of Zuma Canyon near the beginning of the trail.

Near the beginning there were many transformations of the trail. Here it is nicely shaded...

here it is more open and twisty...

and here it back to shady...

and here it is wide open and sunny...

and then it got more wooded.

What!?!?! There is actually a little bit of water in Zuma Creek. Hurray!

That is me on a bridge over Zuma Creek. In this area near Kanan Dume Road we saw a lot of other hikers. The further away we got the fewer and fewer people we saw, until we saw no one on the last mile and a half of the hike.

These trees look like they are dancing. 

Interesting rock formation in the distance.

That is a waterless waterfall. I believe it is Upper Zuma Falls. We are in the midst of a severe drought and most all of the rivers and creeks are dry. Once we get more rainfall this is one segment of the trail that I will want to hike again.

This is another view of Zuma Canyon.

We made it to Zuma Ridge Trail. 

This is where we missed Trancas Canyon Trail. I turned around and took this picture and did not notice the trail a little over to my left.


Zuma Ridge Trail detour

So Zuma Ridge Trail went up and up and up. It did not stop going up the entire time we were on it.

Because of the elevation we got some great views. This is looking back down the Zuma Ridge Trail but in the distance are the mountains we will be hiking later on the Backbone Trail.

This is a view in the direction we had already hiked.

So there is the beginning of Trancas Canyon Trail. With no sign. Just remember to look carefully to the right when nearing the end of the first big bend on Zuma Ridge Trail.

Trancas Canyon Trail

After getting past an uphill section the trail went gently downhill.

We got a view of Trancas Canyon.

And we came upon more trail with no sign. After Matt looked at his GPS app we decided to go to the right.

Yes! A sign! The last 1.6 miles is now ahead.

The trail ahead.

Now this was a bit confusing to see, but it was the trail near the end of the hike which we would get to after going down into the canyon. 

At the bottom of the canyon was the dry Trancas Creek.

And after a long, long hike up out of the canyon - there is Encinal Canyon Road!


The Spirit of GPS

And here is the GPS for the days hike:

We began at Latigo Canyon Road which is on the right side of the map.

Looking Ahead

Three more hikes to go. The last hike is going to be a long one at around 16 miles. Until next time...

Cheers!
Bruce

West on Castro Crest

After backtracking to see the part of the Backbone Trail we had missed previously, we continued on from Corral Canyon Road to Latigo Canyon Road via the Castro Crest Trail. There is a massive 2-mile long sandstone wall called Castro Crest that the trail parallels. A few miles into the hike, the trail nears Castro Peak and there are great views of Castro Crest as well as Solstice Canyon. Then the trail leads into Newton Canyon and to the dirt parking area next to Latigo Canyon Road. We got a nice surprise near the end of the hike when all of a sudden we began to feel rain. A mountain biker passed us and exclaimed "Rain!" Yes, we were pelted with what must have been at least a half dozen raindrops in what goes for a torrential downpour these days. Hey, it was nice while it lasted.

Castro Crest Trail

This is the sign at the start of the trail. The Backbone Trail logo is on the top-right of the sign. Cool!

The trail was popular with runners and mountain bikers. It was hardly ever very wide, but it was always well-maintained.

It crossed over a much wider trail.

A green Solstice Canyon ahead.

The trail at times got more wooded.

We were going downhill for the first part of the hike.

Off in the distance we could see Castro Peak with the radio towers.

Here is one of the many mountain bikers we saw.

The trail flattened out and we came upon a nice open field.

This is one of several dry river beds we saw.

One of many runners enjoying the trail at a much quicker pace than we cared for.

And here was a nicely shaded area along the trail.

Now the trail started up. 

After ascending for a while we could see Castro Crest...

and a closer view of Castro Peak.

The trail kept going up.

Yes, a nice view point with Solstice Canyon in the distance!

Matt and Solstice Canton.

And just Solstice Canyon.

This is as close to Castro Peak as we got. Another trail, Newton Motorway, heads up to the peak.

After crossing Newton Motorway the trail continues into Newton Canyon.

This is our initial view of Newton Canyon.

This is a better view of the canyon. The trail zigzags down and then zig zags back up to the parking area that can barely be seen in the distance.

This was where we experienced the exhilarating rainfall.

And of course, we were happy to complete one more segment of the hike!

Lucy in the Sky with GPS

Matt provided the GPS showing our hike from Corral Canyon Road on the right to Latigo Canyon Road on the left. Notice the massive Castro Crest that the hike paralleled.

Looking Ahead

We are planning on four more hikes to complete the Backbone Trail. The next three should each be about four hours or less to complete. The last one will be by far the most strenuous at an estimated 9 hours to complete. It continues to be a very enjoyable and rewarding experience. Until next time...

Cheers,
Bruce