Local News in Brief : Equestrians, Officials Dedicate Trailhead

Area equestrians joined with state and county officials Saturday to dedicate the Los Pinetos Trailhead, a new parking and staging area for trail rides into the mountains above Sylmar.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Joe Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, took part in the ceremony dedicating the trailhead, which was developed by the county Department of Parks and Recreation with a $100,000 grant from the conservancy.

Although Antonovich in the past recommended to the governor that the conservancy be disbanded, on Saturday he praised it for making the grant. The trailhead is in his district.

The Los Angeles-based conservancy was established in 1979 to help the federal government acquire land for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Later, lawmakers directed it to acquire and link up trails and preserves in the Rim of the Valley Corridor--the hills and ridges encircling the San Fernando and La Crescenta valleys.

The 2.8-acre trailhead, which includes parking for horse trailers, restrooms, watering troughs and hitching posts, is near Olive View Medical Center, north of the Roxford Street off-ramp of the Foothill Freeway.

According to conservancy officials, the trailhead will make it easier and safer for equestrians to use the popular Los Pinetos Trail. The trail connects with several others along the northern rim of the Valley and extends seven miles through canyons to Placerita State Park in the Santa Clarita Valley.