The 4.5 mile Yerba Ridge Trail is above 2,000 ft elevation and provides nearly constant vistas of the Santa Monica Mountain backcountry to the Pacific and of Boney Ridge. It was a highly enjoyable 2 hour hike, the penultimate hike in our continuing Backbone Trail adventure.
Yerba Ridge Trail
This is Yerba Buena Road. Technically I believe that for a short while it is also the Backbone Trail. There is a place to park off of Yerba Buena Road not too far from the beginning of the trail.
There I am at the beginning of Yerba Buena Trail. It was a mostly clear and bright day - great for a hike.
Before too long we began going uphill.
We got up to a point where we could see back down on to Yerba Buena Road in the approximate area where we parked.
To the north there was a nice vista.
Then the trail tracked along the southern side of the ridge.
The trail was open and popular with mountain bikers.
In the distance the trail is visible.
Looking to the south there were great views.
We could often see the trail way ahead on the ridge.
It was slightly uphill for a good part of the way.
OK, so I took a lot of pics of the trail off in the distance.
This pic shows the ridge ahead but also the view of the backcountry. Every now and then we could see the ocean in the distance.
We saw this biker coming from a long way off so I was ready to take a pic when he came around the bend.
The trail started to head around the ridge to the north and in the distance we could begin to see Boney Ridge.
Wow! We made it around to the other side of Yerba Ridge and we had a great view of Boney Ridge.
And even more of Boney Ridge!
This pic is looking back at the trail as it tracked along the northern side of Yerba Ridge.
We were still treated to great vistas of Boney Ridge.
Here is Matt at the end of the trail.
GPSification
Here is the GPS showing our hike of the Yerba Ridge Trail. The red line shows where we hiked and the yellow line shows Yerba Buena Road.
Looking Ahead
There is one hike left for us to complete the 69-mile Backbone Trail. One long hike. We will be climbing to the tallest peak of the Santa Monica Mountains and then hiking down app. 3,000 feet to Point Mugu. Should be fun!
Cheers,
Bruce
From atop a summit next to Etz Meloy Motorway there is a spectacular 360° view with the Pacific to one side and the inland valleys to the other. It is by far the highlight of this hike, the eighth of 10 hikes Matt and I will make to complete the entire Backbone Trail.
This hike was about a 10-mile roundtrip hike. We were not sure whether the private segment of the Etz Meloy Motorway would be open to the public so we played is safe and both parked at the beginning of Encinal Trail.
Encinal Trail
We parked on Encinal Canyon Road and walked down to a dirt parking area where the trail begins.
The Encinal Trail goes slightly uphill as it winds around a hill to reach Mulholland Hwy.
This is the scene soon after the trail begins.
Looking back down the trail.
Matt and the trail ahead.
Nearby hill.
Mulholland Trail
Before reaching Mulholland we saw the trailhead sign.
Across Mulholland Hwy the trail continues.
At first the trail is on flat land.
The vegetation looked a bit more green after the recent rains.
The uphill begins...
and keeps going...
and keeps going...
in the distance the trail is visible...uphill!
But after going up the hill for a while we got a great view of the valley below.
We soon can also see the Pacific.
This GPS map shows our hike on both the Mulholland Trail and the Etz Meloy Motorway. All of the uphill serpentining is on the Mulholland Trail which ends at the Etz Meloy Motorway - a wide trail that follows along the ridge.
Etz Meloy Motorway
We took a left onto the Etz Meloy and enjoyed the views.
The Etz Meloy continuing up ahead.
The view out to the Pacific.
About a quarter mile along the Etz Meloy there is the summit overlook with the spectacular views. This pic shows the view inland and the trail leading up to the top.
From atop the summit the Etz Meloy can be seen continuing in the distance...
and there is a great, wide view of the Pacific...
and more hills and Pacific!
Back on the trail we continue on, waiting to find a sign of the private property ahead.
Nice hills!
After much more hiking than we expected we see some houses in the distance.
And soon we also see a sign announcing that it is private property. However, we discovered that we had made it practically to the end of the private section on the trail without even knowing it. By looking at the GPS later, we determined that there is probably only about a half mile of trail (or less) left before the private section ends.
We've got GPS and We're Not Afraid to Use it
So it is getting harder to make it all out, but this is the combined GPS of the eight hikes we have made so far. Thanks for providing all of the GPS tracking, Matt!
Looking Ahead
Matt and I are realizing that we find many more hikers on trails when there is only a short distance from a place to park and a fantastic view. This hike had the great views but they were far from a place to park. Thus, we saw very few other hikers. There were lots of mountain bikers, though! Until next time...
Cheers,
Bruce
Addendum
It turns out that we really were incredibly close to the end of Etz Meloy Motorway. If we had gone around the bend in the last picture above we would have seen this:
That bit of white visible in the distance is a large gate.
Beyond the gate there is a long driveway that leads to Yerba Buena Road. We were able to walk around one side of the gate (of course, the side that I did not get in the picture). Before starting the next hike we backtracked to the point where we had turned around and got these pics.
