Sunday June 6, 2010
Malibu, California
Sun, Sun and more Sun
Back in late January, I wrote about a hike a took called Escondido Falls Part I. The trail I took was part of the Backbone Trail, which is about a 45 mile trail through the Santa Monica Mountains that starts at Will Rogers Park in Pacific Palisades and ends at Pt. Magu. I've been thinking about doing the whole trail but in segments. So now instead of thinking, I have a goal of doing the whole 45mile trail. Off I went to the same trail head where the Escondido Falls hike starts but this time I took a different trail. This part of the Backbone Trail will take me from Kanan Dume Road to Latigo Canyon road in Malibu and is supposed to be very pretty with wild flowers. And it definitely was. It was a nice and hot 2 hour leisurely hike (5 mile round trip), and was a reminder to me to always wear sunscreen and to bring water! I've done the hike many times before with no water but was in much better shape then. I was pretty dehydrated by the time I finished the hike cuz I did not bring any H2O with me! Lesson Learned.
The trail head can be found just east of Tunnel 1 on Kanan Dume Road. There is ample parking
The starting point of the hike. Going to Latigo Canyon is mostly uphill. The first part of the hike is most difficult as the climb is steep and the trail is very rocky.
View of Kanan Dume after the first ascent. The trail goes over the tunnel and takes you to the Santa Monica Mountains south of Kanan Dume.
The wildflowers were glorious! Also this plant is quite dramatic. From afar in morning sunlight, they look like golden spears shooting from the mountain.
This flower is a native wild flower in California. I don't know the name but it was in full bloom and colored the mountain a light purple. Only bad thing… bees seem to love it. Bees were everywhere.
I've never seen these before. They are like over-sized dandelions. Quite stunning.
A pretty yellow wild flower that was dotting the trail
The trail is exposed to the sun most of the time, but there is a small part that is shady and a relief from the sun. It was over 80 degrees in the mountains, the day I took this hike.
About 20 minutes into the hike, I ran into this sign. Apparently someone built a house above the mountains, so to continue on the trail, I had to go across the "private property".
Once you cross the private property, the trail gets scenic. Here's a view of the local winery
And wild flowers galore! They were spectacular.
Here's another shot of the dandelion like plant but much bigger. Quite amazing, isn't it?
There is not much shade for the last 1.5hours into the hike but those light purple wildflowers were everywhere! And so were the bees. Fortunately, I did spray insect repellent on myself so I was left alone.
Because we had lots of rain (for Malibu) this year, poison oak was everywhere. Fortunately, in the summer, the leaves turn red so easy to spot. But I ran into some mountain bikers and they were covered from head to toe despite the heat so they were protected in case they "fell" on some poison oak.
The scenery abruptly changes from colorful wild flowers to green as I was surrounded by trees.
And near the end, wild flowers again but different kinds. This one was very unusual
From the same plant as above but the flower has not bloomed yet.
Wild flowers near the end of the trail
Latigo Canyon, the end of this segment of the Backbone Trail
I turned around and headed back. I got a different view of the trail as I was heading back.
Didn't see this on the way up. A patch of wild flowers nestled in the middle of the forest
I also did not see this rock, hanging precariously on the side of the mountain
The way back was much easier as most of it was downhill. However, going down the last part of the trail with bad knees was quite difficult as it was rocky and steep. Stay tuned for the next blog on another segment of the Backbone Trail