We have been using the book Day Hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains by Robert Stone as our guide to hiking the Backbone Trail. It is a great resource with very informative descriptions of the trails as well as maps and instructions as where to park and shuttle. Before each hike we make sure to read about the start and end points and calculate driving times. We don't always read the full description of the hike until after we complete the hike.
On the last hike we messed up. In Stone's book it is Section 7 that describes the hike from Malibu Canyon to Corral Canyon Road. Near the end of the hike we saw the rock spiral and climbed on the nearby rocks. Then we saw this:
We went to the left and that trail led to Corral Canyon Road and then we walked up the road to the parking area. However, we should have gone RIGHT. That is the Backbone Trail and it leads right to the parking area and has some beautiful rock formations. Matt and I are determined to do every part of the Backbone Trail, so before starting the next hike segment, we backtracked from the parking area and completed the .4 of a mile part of the trail we had missed out on.
This was the first rock formation we saw.
In the distance we could see the Pacific Ocean.
Near another rock formation we saw an old foundation.
And a little lower the remnants of an old room that has become graffiti central.
Further on the trail goes up onto this rock formation.
From the top we can see down onto the trail and in the distance we can see the rocks we climbed on that are next to the rock spiral. Someone responded on Facebook to my last post and said that the rock spiral was started by a nearby homeowner who lost his house due to late-night partiers that started a campfire at that site that got out of control.
There are great rock formations to check out.
This formation was in the distance behind the rocks in the last picture.
The Zen of Bruce
Matt on the trail. The parking area is off in the distance.
For Those that Give a GPS
Here is the GPS pic of the hike from the parking area back to the fork in the trail and then back to the parking area.
Now this hike is great. Awesome in fact. Memorable and rewarding, too. Hey, can you tell I liked this hike?!? We combined the wooded Piuma Ridge Trail at the base of Malibu Canyon with the Mesa Peak Motorway which gains 1600 feet in elevation to reveal great views of Malibu Canyon and then spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. After gaining most all of that elevation, the trail follows a ridge along Corral Canyon for miles and leads to some amazing sandstone rock formations. Then out of the blue we came upon what appeared to be an old SciFi movie set. Look at this.
Ok. I might have touched up the photo a bit. But I was feeling it. It was otherworldly. At least a little bit.
Piuma Ridge Trail
We left one car at Corral Canyon Road in a nearly deserted stretch of dirt road and then drove to Piuma Road and the start of the Piuma Ridge Trail.
It was a cool morning with perfect temps for hiking.
The mountains in the distance is where we are headed.
There were lots of runners on the trail. I asked one of them what their route was for the day and it was about twice the distance that Matt and I were going to hike. Yow!
There were many moods to the Piuma Trail including switchback trail...
wooded trail...
brush trail...
and leafy trail.
What!?!?! At least one river in LA is not dry yet. Way to go Malibu Creek!
We made it to the point we had tried to park on the last hike. It all turned out fine. The last hike was a good distance and the combo of Piuma And Mesa Motorway worked out great for this hike.
We had to walk along Piuma Road to Malibu Canyon Road (pictured) to then start on Mesa Peak Motorway.
Mesa Peak Motorway
You may be relieved to find out that there is an Andy Gump near the beginning of the trail. We were.
And the uphill hike begins.
Looking back.
The mountains that had been in the distance are now much closer.
And Malibu Canyon Road is looking pretty distant.
Up we go.
And up we go.
Malibu Canyon Road is way in the distance.
We get our first glimpse of the ocean way off in the distance looking south down Malibu Canyon.
The trail continues up.
and up
and up.
Looking back again we can see the radio towers on top of Saddle Peak West
and quite a view of Malibu Canyon.
The trail gradually evens out.
We saw a picnic table up in the distance.
Wow! What a view from the picnic table!
Time for photos of us with the great vista. First me.
Then Matt.
And now the trail followed the ridge.
This pic shows the ridge trail a bit better.
There were ocean views to our left...
and inland views to our right.
It went on quite a ways like this.
We saw some sandstone formations in the distance.
Very nice. Getting closer...
What in the world?! A large rock spiral. And big rocks to climb on.
Rock spiral close-up.
There is Matt on the rocks.
And that is me on another rock formation.
From up top we could behold the majesty of the rock spiral
as well as the majesty of more rock formations in the distance.
We got back on to the trail and soon we could see Corral Canyon Road in the distance.
Just a little bit more trail...
The nearly deserted parking area was now full of cars.
Excuse me while I GPS
The hike began where the red line starts on the lower left side. Mesa Peak Motorway begins near the base of the mountain. The Pacific Ocean is shown in the top left corner.
This is the GPS of all five hikes thus far. The hikes began where the red line begins on the far right side. Thanks to Matt for taking care of recording the GPS information for each hike. The only section that is not shown in its entirety is the last part of the first hike which would have continued all the way to where the green line (second hike) begins.
Looking Ahead
We have made it approximately halfway along the Backbone Trail. We have planned out the remaining 5 hikes and all of them should be reasonable until the last one. The last hike will probably be an all-day hike. So far it has been a highly rewarding experience and has opened our eyes to natural treasures not far from home.
Cheers,
Bruce
